About FoodCORE

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year, foodborne diseases cause illness in 1 in 6 Americans (or about 48 million people) resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. In 2012, CDC monitored between 16 and 57 potential food poisoning clusters each week and investigated more than 200 multistate clusters. These investigations led to the identification of contaminated sources, which resulted in actions to stop the outbreaks. These actions, which kept further illnesses from happening, included the recalls of more than 300 products, such as peanut butter and peanut butter products, leafy greens, cantaloupes, sprouts, ground beef, raw scraped ground tuna, mangoes, dry dog food, and ricotta salata cheese.

The foods involved in these clusters are many and varied, which complicates the investigation of foodborne outbreaks. Fast and effective outbreak investigations are therefore needed to identify and remove contaminated food from the market to prevent additional illnesses. Identifying contaminated foods and learning how the contamination happened also help public health officials develop methods to prevent similar outbreaks in the future. However, most state health departments lack the resources to conduct comprehensive foodborne disease surveillance and to conduct rapid, coordinated detection and response to multistate outbreaks.

What is FoodCORE?

In 2009, CDC funded a pilot project to improve state and local responses to foodborne disease outbreaks. This project was launched in three centers with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Association of Public Health Laboratories. It was so successful that in 2010, CDC expanded the project to additional centers. In 2011, the project was renamed FoodCORE — Foodborne Diseases Centers for Outbreak Response Enhancement. Currently seven centers participate, covering about 14% of the U.S. population (see map).

FoodCORE centers work together to develop new and better methods to detect, investigate, respond to, and control multistate outbreaks of foodborne diseases. Efforts are primarily focused on outbreaks caused by bacteria, including Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), and Listeria. The ability to detect and investigate viral and parasitic foodborne disease outbreaks will also be strengthened.

What are the FoodCORE performance metrics?

The FoodCORE performance metrics are a list of measurable activities covering diverse aspects of outbreak response. These activities span from outbreak surveillance and detection through investigation, response, control, and prevention measures. Using the metrics, each center provides data about the burden, timeliness, and completeness of foodborne disease activities related to the key areas of activity. These performance metrics are:

• Designed to demonstrate successes and identify gaps in the detection, investigation, and control of enteric disease outbreaks
• Based on the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) guidelines

The performance metrics are comprised of specific measures related to each key area of activity:

• Laboratory Surveillance
  • Isolate/specimen submission
  • Complete and timely subtyping
  • Communication of lab findings
• Epidemiological Interviews and Investigations
  • Complete and timely case interviewing
  • Outbreak detection and data review
  • Outbreak investigations, analytic studies, and interventions
  • Conduct trainings with federal, state, and local public health partners
• Environmental Health
  • Environmental health assessments as part of investigative teams
  • Communication and coordination between public health agencies
  • Conduct trainings with federal, state, and local public health partners