National Voluntary Environmental Assessment Information System (NVEAIS)

Food-safety programs need information on contributing factors and environmental antecedents of foodborne illness outbreaks to improve their surveillance activities and engage in other foodborne illness outbreak prevention activities. However, this information is lacking. A national voluntary environmental assessment information system (NVEAIS) could provide food-safety program managers with an information resource that could fill this gap.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net), through its experience in conducting environmental assessments in foodborne illness outbreaks and reporting the results to CDC as part of its Foodborne Illness Outbreak Study, provides a model for such an information system.

Purpose and Objectives

NVEAIS will be used to identify factors that can be routinely monitored to prevent or reduce the risk for foodborne illness outbreaks. Information collected through NVEAIS will be used to

• Establish a detailed characterization of food vehicles and monitor food vehicle trends,
• Identify and monitor contributing factors and their environmental antecedents and,
• Provide a basis for hypothesis generation regarding factors that may support foodborne outbreak events.

With this information, food safety programs and the food industry will have information to guide the planning, implementation and evaluation of foodborne illness prevention activities.

Current Status

In 2008 CDC asked for feedback on the appropriateness of establishing a national information system and the barriers to its launch via the Conference for Food Protection (CFP). CFP membership represents a diverse group of stakeholders with a role or interest in food safety at the retail level. A CFP committee is reviewing the issue to determine CFP's role in the system’s national implementation. The committee will report its recommendations to the CFP Executive Board in April 2010.

Protocol: In June 2010, food-safety programs will be able to access the standardized reporting protocol and the Web-based system for foodborne illness outbreak environmental assessment reporting. This will allow users to preview and comment on the new reporting program.

Training: CDC is developing an exciting virtual-world training program on how to conduct foodborne illness outbreak environmental assessments. This training program is targeted for release in 2013 and may be useful for programs if they plan to use the new National Voluntary Environmental Assessment Information System.

Participation: A full description of requirements for NVEAIS participation will be posted here in 2013. The system will be available for all local, state, territories, or tribes to report foodborne illness outbreak environmental assessment data.

Registered NVEAIS Users

NVEAIS users may log-on to the information system by selecting the following link: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/ehsnet/default.aspx

Contact Information

To gain access to NVEAIS please e-mail: NVEAIS@cdc.gov. Be sure to include the following information when requesting access:

• First and last name
• List agency/organization of affiliation
• Job title
• Location: state
• Contact number
• E-mail address (will be used to deliver an automated message to begin the registration process)

This information is also available in the NVEAIS registration document [PDF - 147 KB].

For additional information regarding the use of NVEAIS, please refer to the NVEAIS Instruction Manual [PDF - 640 KB].

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