FSIS Summarizes Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigations for FY 2021
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has published its annual report on FSIS Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigations for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 2021). The report summarizes the outbreaks that FSIS investigated from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021, and also highlights after-action reviews (AARs) that FSIS conducted and published in FY 2021.
FSIS investigated nine total foodborne illness outbreaks in FY 2021 compared to 16 in FY 2018, 16 in FY 2019, and 12 in FY 2020. FSIS notes that the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused a reduction in foodborne illness reporting which resulted in the decreased number of outbreak investigations that occurred in FY 2021.