Systems-based environmental assessment as a new tool for produce related foodborne illness outbreak investigation and prevention

For over a decade FDA has recognized the unique challenges with increasing the safety of fresh produce. From 1996 to 2009, there have been eighty-seven known multistate foodborne illness outbreaks associated with the consumption of fresh produce where contamination most likely occurred on the farm. Investigation of these types of outbreak and contamination events are confounding given the environment in which the products are produced and the numerous environmental interactions that impact their safety. Traditional outbreak response focuses on the containment of such incidents; however, the use of environmental assessment allows FDA to take a step further to determine how the environment contributes to the introduction, transmission and proliferation of pathogens or other hazards. An in-depth, systems-based environmental assessment was conducted in response to a multi-state foodborne disease outbreak investigation involving 33 cases of E. coli O145 infection in five states in the spring of 2010. Potential sources and transmission routes of contamination were discovered, which allowed for the identification and implementation of preventive control strategies that will potentially prevent future contamination of fresh produce, thereby preventing foodborne illnesses and deaths.