About IFSAC

At a glance

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture create the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC) in 2011.
  • IFSAC is working to improve estimates of the sources of foodborne illness.
Graphic combining all agency logos

Purpose

To enhance the safety of our food, three federal agencies—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (FSIS) —teamed up in 2011 to create the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC).

Federal agencies and food safety experts rely on attribution to inform strategic planning and risk-based decision-making, estimate benefits of interventions, and evaluate the impact of interventions. By bringing together data from CDC, FDA and FSIS, and by developing sound analytical methods, IFSAC scientists can improve estimates of the sources of foodborne illness.

IFSAC main objectives:

  • Address the challenges posed by foodborne illness source attribution.
  • Work collectively to:
    • Analyze and interpret human surveillance and food contamination data;
    • Share data and methods; and
    • Monitor progress toward the goal of preventing foodborne illness.

Goals

  • Identify, plan, and conduct selected food safety and foodborne illness analytic projects recognized as high priority by all three agencies.
    • Foodborne illness source attribution is the current focus of IFSAC's activities.
  • Improve coordination of federal food safety analytic efforts.
  • Address cross-cutting priorities for food safety data collection, analysis, and use.

Contacts

To learn more about IFSAC, contact us at IFSAC@fda.hhs.gov.