FoodCORE Centers, 2012
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 2011, CDC monitored 15–40 potential food poisoning clusters each week, and investigated more than 200 multistate clusters. These investigations led to 17 recalls.
Foodborne Diseases Centers for Outbreak Response Enhancement (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 E. coli, and Listeria.
Interested in learning more about FoodCORE? Come meet representatives from the centers and the CDC FoodCORE Team during FoodCORE’s Open Session at the 2012 OutbreakNet Meeting! The FoodCORE Open Session will be held on Monday, August 27, 2012 from 4-6pm at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. Additional details and registration information can be found on the APHL conference website or by emailing FoodCORE@cdc.gov.
FoodCORE Topics
About FoodCORE
Program overview, metrics, and key areas of focus.
FoodCORE Partners and Resources
FoodCORE partners, publications, and presentations.
CDC FoodCORE Team
Roles and responsibilities, and contact information.
Current FoodCORE Centers
Introduction, center information, success stories, and program highlights.
Successes and Highlights
Helping Solve Salmonella Outbreak Mysteries
Raw Scraped Ground Tuna
Foodborne Diseases Centers for Outbreak Response Enhancement (FoodCORE) played a key role in solving a 2012 multistate outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly and Nchanga infections. This outbreak was quickly detected by PulseNet, the national subtyping network made up of state and local public health laboratories and federal food regulatory laboratories that perform molecular surveillance of foodborne infections. The outbreak was widespread, with 390 ill people identified in 27 states and the District of Columbia; 47 people were hospitalized.
Ill persons were identified by four of seven FoodCORE centers. These centers contributed critical evidence to accelerate the investigation. State and local public health epidemiologists, public health nurses, and student interview teams in the centers rapidly interviewed ill people to determine their food history and quickly identified restaurants where they ate. Multiple people reported eating sushi the week before they became sick. This information was crucial to identifying which foods to test and trace back. Using interview information as well as their centers’ enhanced capabilities, environmental health specialists and laboratory personnel collected and tested food samples.
The participating FoodCORE centers worked together with other involved health departments and regulatory partners to pinpoint frozen raw scraped ground tuna as the likely source of contamination. They were among the first to identify the outbreak strains in the contaminated food. The product was recalled, which likely prevented additional illnesses.
Contact Us:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd
Atlanta, GA 30333 - 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348 - cdcinfo@cdc.gov
