Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigation Survey for FSIS Public Health Partners

FY21 FSIS Partner Survey

OMB Number: 0583-0175; OMB approval expiration date: 02/28/2022

Cleared OA 3/25/21 (ECM #8713356)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE (FSIS)

Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigation Survey

Dear Public Health and Food Safety Partner,

We are seeking feedback from state and territorial public health and food safety agencies to identify opportunities for improving collaborative responses to foodborne illness outbreaks. The purpose of this survey is to inform FSIS outreach efforts to strengthen partnerships. We intend to share the aggregate results from this survey with our outbreak response partners and may share them publicly. Thank you for taking the time to provide your input.

Question 1 asks about outbreak notification frequency. Please note that we are not asking about how often outbreaks associated with FSIS-regulated products occur in your state. Rather, we are asking how often your state notifies FSIS when such outbreaks occur.

1. Please indicate the frequency with which your state notifies FSIS when evidence suggests a potential association between a foodborne illness outbreak and an FSIS-regulated product (meat, poultry, or egg product).

• Always

• Very often

• Sometimes

• Rarely

• Never

2. Please mark the response that best represents your familiarity with the following resources (before this survey):

Resource	Did not know that it existed	Knew that it existed but had not reviewed it	Have reviewed it and have a general awareness of the content	Have a functional knowledge of how my agency can use the content during responses
Policy on Use of Results from Non-FSIS Laboratories (FSIS Directive 10,000.1). In August 2020, FSIS updated this directive to streamline and clarify its process for assessing state laboratory results as a basis for FSIS action during foodborne outbreak investigations.
Sharing Information with State or Local Agencies, Foreign Government Officials, and International Organizations (FSIS Directive 2620.5). FSIS has a process to share with public health partners information related to FSIS-regulated products, such as the source of food samples that test positive for pathogens, both within and outside the context of foodborne outbreak investigations.
Template for Including FSIS in Foodborne Illness Outbreak Response Procedures (Template for Including FSIS in Foodborne Illness Outbreak Response Procedures (usda.gov))
FSIS’ summary of open investigations and after-action review reports (www.fsis.usda.gov/OutbreakResponse)
FSIS foodborne outbreak reporting email address: FoodborneDiseaseReports@usda.gov

3. Please recommend ways of improving the effectiveness of collaboration and information exchange between FSIS and your agency during foodborne outbreak investigations.

For more information, please visit our partner resource webpage:

Resources for Public Health Partners: Foodborne Illness Investigation

www.fsis.usda.gov/PHPartners

Please contact Willy Lanier (william.lanier@usda.gov) with comments or questions about this survey.