Most people think of foodborne illness outbreaks as spanning a few days or weeks. But, with current technology, disease detectives can find patients of a single outbreak spread across several years and multiple states.
That is the case with an ongoing outbreak of Listeria illnesses linked to fresh peaches that
Continue Reading High technology is the key to detecting foodborne outbreaks over space and time
Government prosecutors wrapped conspiracy and fraud around the head of the former president of Blue Bell ice cream, but a hung jury did not buy it. That Texas jury was 10-to-2 in favor of acquittal.
But how then should be explained the illnesses and deaths associated with the 2015 listeriosis
Continue Reading Scientists blame listeria’s low priority for regulatory support as the likely true cause for a low-burn listeria outbreak
This month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published a study on the effectiveness of the GenomeTrakr Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) Network, a scientific tool that helps the FDA detect, investigate and limit the spread of foodborne illness outbreaks.
By 2019 the program was already estimated at providing nearly $500
Continue Reading New study shows FDA Whole Genome Sequencing network provides nearly $500 million in annual health benefits
Ten months after the beginning of the first confirmed illness in a Salmonella Concord outbreak traced to tahini, the CDC has declared the outbreak over. However, there is a good chance some consumers are unaware of several tahini recalls, leaving them susceptible.
“This outbreak appears to be over, but recalled
Continue Reading CDC, FDA warn of ongoing danger from tahini recalled during outbreak
To better understand antibiotic resistance (AMR) in bacteria, agencies within USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other federal and state partners work collaboratively through the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). Recent ground-breaking scientific advances are helping NARMS partners
Continue Reading Antimicrobial resistance and whole genome sequencing – What’s new?
We’ve been reporting on the E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce since federal officials first announced it on April 13. Actually, though romaine hadn’t been connected to it yet, we started reporting on the outbreak April 4. A day earlier New Jersey health officials had alerted the
Continue Reading Beach Beat: Why wasn’t canal water tested months ago?
Stic HarrisStic Harris, DVM, MPH, has been the director of FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network (CORE) since August 2017. He is responsible for the agency’s surveillance, response, and post-response activities associated with outbreaks of illnesses caused by food, dietary supplements, and cosmetics.
In many
Continue Reading CORE’s Stic Harris discusses food safety threats, FDA plans
Editor’s note: This column by FDA’s Steven Musser and Eric L. Stevens was originally published on the agency’s blog.
FDA is laying the foundation for the use of whole
Continue Reading WGS could be WMD in global battle against foodborne illness
Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on FDA’s Consumer Updates page. A person commits a crime, and the detective uses DNA evidence collected from the crime scene to track the criminal down. An outbreak of foodborne illness makes people sick, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Continue Reading GenomeTrakr is FDA’s version of Hoover’s fingerprint file
CHICAGO — The federal government is rolling out a powerful new, and increasingly affordable food safety weapon to about 30 states next year and to all 50 within two years. 
Robert Tauxe, director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases at the Centers for
Continue Reading CDC sending states new outbreak tool; launching PulseNet 2.0
