CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is the federal agency primarily responsible for monitoring the incidence of food borne illness in the United States.
CDC was founded in 1946, its expert have worked closely with local health authorities in cities, counties, states, nations and the whole continents seeking the clues of disease, its causes and its cures.
CDC coordinates its activities concerning the safety of the food supply with the Food and Drug Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services and those concerning the safety meat, poultry and eggs with the Food Safety and Inspection Services in the US.
Since in 1998, CDC has collected a standardized set of data on each reported outbreak that include state, date and location of occurrence: etiology: numbers of ill, hospitalized and death and associated food if identified.
Most cases of food borne illness do not occur as part of recognized outbreaks but information from outbreak investigations is extremely important in determining the safety of specific food items or commodities.
In 1995 CDC launched FoodNet, a collaborative project with the FDA and USDA to improve data collection in food borne illness outbreaks.
FoodNet includes active surveillance of clinical microbiology laboratories to obtain a more accurate accounting of positive result for food borne illness.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
