3168.1: Monday, October 22, 2001: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM

Panel Discussion Session

Ensuring Local Food Safety: New Challenges and Solutions

Foodborne diseases are responsible for millions of illnesses in the United States each year. This session will examine the challenges facing the local public health workforce that is responsible for maintaining local food safety programs. Using illustrative case studies from Ohio and Illinois, speakers will examine the process of responding to foodborne disease outbreaks and the need for increased vigilance against future outbreaks. From these case studies, it will become clear that food safety programs must acknowledge the context of both household and retail food production; programs must also be able to identify and address newly emerging barriers to safe practices through education and training. Speakers will evaluate recent, innovative approaches to improving food safety, including the creation of multi-language training videotapes. In addition, this session will provide a critique of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point approach (HACCP), based upon its implementation in local communities. Finally, the need to increase local health boards’ role in ensuring food safety will be examined, along with the resources available for improving local food safety.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe the emerging challenges to maintaining effective food safety programs at the local level; 2. Examine the need for increased vigilance in order to prevent foodborne disease outbreaks; 3. Explore the changing role of the local public health workforce in responding to outbreaks; 4. Increase awareness of the multiple resources available to improve local food safety.
Panelist(s):Colin Thacker, RS, MPA
Peter T. Schade, RS
Sarah Chard
Discussant(s):Patrick Bohan, RS, MS, MSEH
Moderator(s):L. Fleming Fallon, MD, PhD, DrPH
Sponsor:APHA-Innovations Project
CE Credits:CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work

The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA