Issues Affecting Use of Environmental Assessments

Key takeaways

We analyzed outbreak data reported to our National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS).

We found that Investigators conducted environmental assessments when:

• They knew or suspected the illness that caused the outbreak
• Their health department had a policy to do these assessments
• Their health department had the people and time available to do the assessment

Investigators did not conduct environmental assessments when:

• Their health department lacked resources or training
• The restaurant was not in their health department's jurisdiction
• Restaurant staff did not want to cooperate
• Poor communication prevented timely responses

Why this is important

Environmental assessments provide information that can stop ongoing outbreaks and prevent them in the future. But health department investigators do not always conduct environmental assessments of outbreaks.

We are working to learn more about how retail establishment characteristics and food safety policies and practices relate to foodborne outbreaks. Our goal is to provide data to help food safety programs develop effective approaches to prevent outbreaks.

More information

• Journal article this plain language summary is based on
• CDC's Environmental Assessment Training Series (EATS)
• Environmental assessments
• Resources from CDC's Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence (CoE)