The Food Safety Research Consortium, a multi-disciplinary collaboration to improve public health, received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) to develop a conceptual framework for prioritizing opportunities to reduce risk based on an understanding of the integrated and systems-wide approach necessary to reduce foodborne illness. Information, discussion and feedback from collaborating institutions, researchers and other stakeholders at four workshops provided valuable input to the development of the framework. The conceptual framework includes approaches for evaluating the cost, effectiveness, and benefits of risk-reduction interventions and will guide future data collection and the creation of priority-setting tools for decisionmakers in food safety, public health, and the private sector.
Workshops and Conferences
Workshop 4 (November 13-15, 2006)--E. coli O157:H7 in Lettuce and Leafy Greens: Strategies for Developing an Intervention Assessment Model. Monterey, CA.
Coordinated by WIFSS at UC-Davis (and planned previous to the recent spinach outbreak) this small invite-only meeting explored computer modeling and risk assessment approaches to identify and evaluate interventions for O157 in leafy greens.
Contact: Juliana Ruzante
National Conference: Presentation of Proposed Priority-Setting Framework to National Stakeholders and Experts. (September 14, 2005, Washington, D.C.)
The national conference will serve as the culmination of the project by bringing researchers and stakeholders together to review the refined conceptual framework.
Workshop 3 (April 26 & 27, 2005)--Interventions and food attribution workshop. University of Georgia.
Focused on how disease surveillance and other tools can contribute to understanding risk and the effectiveness of efforts to reduce risk, thereby better linking priority setting and intervention strategies to relevant health outcomes.
Contact: Mike Doyle
Workshop 2 (December 2 & 3, 2004)--Economic measures of interventions. Held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Focused on measuring the costs and benefits of interventions and identifying ways to integrate economic information into the food safety priority-setting tools.
Contact: Julie Caswell
Workshop 1 (June 15 & 16, 2004)--Risk modeling approaches and case studies. Convened jointly by Iowa State University and the University of California-Davis and held at Iowa State University.
Reviewed alternative risk assessment and predictive modeling methods and used case studies to examine the systems and interventions used in selected food production and marketing systems.
Contact: Helen Jensen
Briefing (February 2, 2004) Prioritizing opportunities to reduce foodborne diseases. Held at Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C.