Topic 3 Foodborne Outbreak Investigation
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022) investigates each foodborne outbreak thoroughly using a 7-step process. The steps are described in order, but investigations are dynamic and several steps may happen at the same time.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Step 1
- Detect Outbreak (detect a possible outbreak by monitoring for reported illnesses nationwide).
Step 2
- Find Illnesses (define who will be included in the outbreak and find additional illnesses).
Step 3
- Generate Hypotheses (generate hypotheses (potential explanations) by interviewing people about what they ate before getting sick).
Visual taken from https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/outbreaks/tools/index.html
Step 4
- Test Hypotheses (test hypotheses using statistical analysis or food testing).
Step 5
- Solve Outbreak (solve the outbreak and identify the contaminated food and the point of contamination).
Step 6
- Control Outbreak (control the outbreak by recalling contaminated food, cleaning or closing food facilities, and warning the public about the outbreak).
Step 7
- Decide End of Outbreak (decide the outbreak is over when there are no more new illnesses and the contaminated food is no longer available).
Visual taken from youtube.com