Collaboration
The Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence combine academic expertise with public health practice. Through our nationwide network, we help state and local agencies protect public health through a range of collaborative projects.
Explore the collaborative examples below to see how we’ve helped other agencies enhance their food safety programs.
CIFOR Workshop Drives Real Program Change
Strengthening Foodborne Outbreak Response: Kentucky Works with APHL and the TN Food Safety CoE to Host a CIFOR Toolkit Workshop
In a proactive step toward enhancing foodborne disease surveillance and response, the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) recently hosted a successful CIFOR Toolkit workshop in collaboration with the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Tennessee Food Safety Center of Excellence (TN Food Safety CoE).
The Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) is a national multidisciplinary partnership of public health professionals working to improve the detection, investigation, control, and prevention of foodborne disease outbreaks. To support the implementation of its Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response, CIFOR developed a Toolkit designed to help health departments assess their current practices and apply targeted improvements.
Workshop Goals and Approach
The workshop brought together state and regional experts in epidemiology, environmental health, and public health laboratories. Prior to the event, APHL and TN Food Safety CoE supported KDPH in completing key CIFOR worksheets to identify jurisdictional decision-making structures and prioritize areas for improvement. Participants were encouraged to review CIFOR’s guidelines, learning modules and review their current protocols in preparation for the workshop.
During the workshop, attendees were organized into teams by KDPH to support collaboration on selected CIFOR focus areas. Each team reviewed relevant recommendations from the CIFOR Toolkit and assessed their implementation priorities. This approach fostered cross-disciplinary engagement and strategic planning, helping participants align on actionable improvements to enhance foodborne outbreak detection and response.
Key Outcomes
KDPH identified two primary focus areas for improvement:
- Communication
- Relationships with Relevant Agencies and Organizations
Action plans were developed for each area, outlining specific tasks, responsible staff, and timelines. Highlights included:
- Communication Enhancements:
- Establishing formal communication protocols
- Updating contact lists
- Tracking communication metrics during outbreak responses
- Strengthening Relationships:
- Revising outbreak response protocols
- Conducting tabletop exercises with key stakeholders
Most initiatives are scheduled for implementation or completion by 2027.
Looking Ahead
This workshop exemplifies how strategic partnerships and structured tools like the CIFOR Toolkit can empower public health agencies to identify gaps, prioritize improvements, and enhance their outbreak response capabilities. KDPH’s goal is to conduct a CIFOR Toolkit Workshop once a year to review and improve on other CIFOR Toolkit focus areas.
APHL and the Food Safety CoEs are available to support other jurisdictions in hosting similar workshops. If you are interested in hosting a CIFOR Toolkit Workshop, contact your Food Safety CoE. By investing in collaboration and preparedness, agencies can better protect communities and improve public health outcomes in the face of foodborne disease threats.
Sample Collection Survey with Arizona Department of Health Services
Stool specimen collection during an enteric illness outbreak is essential for determining the outbreak etiology and for advancing the epidemiologic understanding of the pathogens and food vehicles causing illness. During 2018 and 2019 only 42% of enteric disease outbreaks in Arizona had at least two stool specimens collected during the investigation. Arizona department of health services (ADHS) wanted to help investigators meet the goal of 2 or more stool specimens collected per outbreak where Arizona aimed to collect for at least 60% of investigations. When they started to develop resources ADHS realized that they did not fully understand the barriers to collecting the appropriate number of samples. With that in mind, ADHS worked with the Colorado CoE to create and administer a survey to outbreak investigators in Arizona and Colorado asking about general and outbreak-specific barriers, agency protocols, practices for sample collection and investigators’ needs for training or resources for specimen collection. Advantages of working together on this survey included combining data from multiple states, having a larger group/network for ideas and collaboration, and ADHS having access to student support through the CoE. The partnership found that reducing barriers requires multifaceted approaches, including increased program funding, educating public health staff, and providing collection resources to local public health agencies.
Listeria Resources with Maryland Department of Health
NY CoE collaborated with the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) to create multiple best practice training resources for local and state health agencies on how to conduct environmental sampling in the context of Listeria. During a 1-on-1 call among the NY CoE and MDH, the MDH conveyed the need for technical, “how to” resources pertaining to environmental sampling during an outbreak, and particularly when the agent of interest is Listeria. NY CoE convenes 1-on-1 calls with each state/jurisdiction in the NY CoE region annually, and this need spoke to a general interest from partner sites regarding best practice environmental sampling resources. The first resource, a webinar titled “The 3 C’s of Listeria: Characteristics, Contamination, and Control” provides an overview of the characteristics of Listeria, and best practice recommendations on minimizing contamination, and controlling of Listeria. The webinar is targeted to public health investigators of both retail and manufactured food. The NY CoE and MDH also collaborated on creating “Listeria Fact Sheets” that can aid retail food service facilities and food processing environments in understanding the danger of Listeria monocytogenes and to assist with identifying ways to reduce the risk of transmission within these settings. The fact sheets are available in a variety of languages. This collaboration required shared responsibilities among the NY CoE and the MDH. The NY COE and MDH partnered together to develop learning objectives and a presentation outline for the webinar, which was attended live by over 150 participants. The fact sheets were also developed in partnership, with MDH providing the funding necessary to get the documents translated into six additional languages to improve the document accessibility for food service workers in the state of Maryland. On the NY CoE side, this project was funded out of staff time.
