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Kimberly Elenberg, LCDR, RN, MSN, Office of Public Health and Science, Health and Human Sciences Division, United Stastes Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Aerospace building, Room 334, Washington, DC 20250, 202-690-4617, kimberly.elenberg@fsis.usda.gov and Ralph Stafko, JD, Strategic Initiatives, Partnerships, and Outreach, United Stastes Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Aerospace Building, RM 405, Washington, DC 20250.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture protects consumers by ensuring that meat, poultry, and egg products are safe. Food safety hazards include microbiological, chemical, and other contaminants, occurring naturally and intentionally introduced. Rapid identification of food hazards is essential for timely hazard mitigation and prevention of illnesses. Consumer complaints can help identify food hazards. Currently, complaints are collected in FSIS’ Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS), triaged by public health employees based on the potential health hazard, investigated by field officials, and tracked through resolution. This has permitted identification of products requiring recall, and processors requiring more rigorous processing controls. FSIS wants to assure that it is avoiding type II statistical errors when determining to launch an investigation. This is traditionally done either by decreasing levels of significance given to individual cases, or by increasing the total number of cases. Because of the potential risk to the public implicit in every complaint in the CCMS, the preferred approach is to increase the number of cases in the database. FSIS receives about 800 consumer complaints a year. An Association for Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) survey of state food safety activities in 2001 found that the states investigated, inter alia, 46,019 consumer complaints. FSIS intends to explore how it might link federal and state consumer complaint data to increase the likelihood that foodborne hazards will be detected quickly and accurately. This would involve developing data standards as well as a mechanism for data sharing.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Food Safety, Information System Integration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.