FSRC Project - Enhancing State & Local Roles

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Enhancing the Roles of State and Local Government in an Integrated, Prevention-Oriented Food Safety System:
Joint ASTHO-NACCHO Workshop on Foodborne Surveillance and Outbreak Response

July 1, 2008
ASTHO National Headquarters
Arlington, VA

Advance Materials
   Agenda (pdf)
   Attendees (pdf)
   Background Paper (pdf)
   Project Description (pdf)

Agenda and Further Materials

Opening Remarks and Workshop Overview
- MICHELLE CHUK (NACCHO) and GINO MARINUCCI (ASTHO)
    "Welcome and Introductions"
- MIKE TAYLOR (GWU)
    "Project Overview and Meeting Goals"
- PETER MITCHELL (Marketing for Change)
    "Introduction of Breakout Sessions"

Breakout Sessions / Scenario Discussions
Participants will be put into three groups and each will be provided a different scenario in the form of a news article about a fictional outbreak to spark a discussion about issues that arise in foodborne illness investigations and response. A set of questions will be provided to participants to guide discussion.
- Breakout Session Overview and Questions (pdf)
- Scenario 1: Listeria monocytogenes in turkey hot dogs (pdf)
- Scenario 2: E. coli O157:H7 in green onions (pdf)
- Scenario 3: Norovirus outbreak (pdf)

Facilitated Discussions
Breakout groups will report back to the full workshop about their findings. Similarities and differences between groups and scenarios will be briefly discussed. The full group will engage in a facilitated discussion about issues and barriers to effective surveillance and foodborne illness response, focusing on gaps and constraints in law, policy, and practice at federal, state, and local levels.

Goals and Objectives

The goals of this workshop are to evaluate current activities and roles of state and local health departments in foodborne illness surveillance and outbreak response and develop recommendations to enhance these roles in the context of a more integrated, national food safety system.

Participants in this workshop will review fictional case studies (based on reality) that discuss state and local health agency roles in foodborne illness surveillance and outbreak response and provide personal experience to meet the following objectives:

Outline the current and optimal roles of state and local agencies in foodborne illness surveillance and outbreak response;
Identify obstacles state and local health departments face in playing their optimal roles;
Develop a consensus and recommend specific steps that can be taken (on national, state and local levels) to overcome identified obstacles and to strengthen the state and local roles and interaction and collaboration among health agencies at all levels.

Collaboration

This is the first of two workshops convened as part of the project on Enhancing State and Local Roles in Food Safety, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It was convened jointly by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), with the involvement of project collaborators at the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO), The George Washington University, and UF Emerging Pathogens Institute. More information about the project can be found here.