Identifying ways to better prevent and respond to foodborne illness
Each year, an estimated 48 million people in the United States experience a foodborne illness. Foodborne illnesses cause 128,000 hospitalizations and about 3,000 deaths in the United States annually. The 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) introduced sweeping reform of food safety regulation in the U.S. Its intent was to “shift the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it.”
Following its passage, RESOLVE, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation established the Collaborative Food Safety Forum (CFSF or Forum), a platform for cross-sector information exchange and the development of policy solutions to better prevent and respond to foodborne illness. The Forum engages stakeholders in implementation of the law, including rulemaking that achieved the public health improvements and prevention at the heart of FSMA. The Forum was jointly funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from 2011—2017.
Over six years, the CFSF held 21 large meetings and workshops, several small workgroup sessions, and several dozen organizational or preparatory conference calls; reached out to and engaged over 200 participants, including growers, food processors, distributors, retailers, restaurant representatives and myriad supply chain consultants, consumer advocacy groups, academics, and federal, state and local government officials; and produced over 30 documents to support constructive dialogue, fairly and accurately capture the deliberations, and promote collaboratively developed tools.
In addition to the quantifiable work, the CFSF contributed significantly to building cooperation and collaboration among key stakeholders actively engaged in implementing and overseeing food safety systems. This increased and aligned understanding of FSMA is needed for fine tuning, problem-solving, and ultimately increasing uptake of requirements and fulfilling the law.
- July 20-21, 2011 - Imports Session Workshop
- November 16, 2011 - Imports and Third-Party Certification Workshop
- November 3-4, 2011 - Surveillance Workshop
- February 1, 2012 - Foodborne Illness Source Attribution Workshop
- April 12, 2012 - Domestic Facility Inspection Workshop
- December 12, 2012 - Information Sharing and Response Workshop
- January 16, 2013 - Information Sharing and Response Small Group Meeting
- February 27, 2013 - Supply Chain Consultation Process Workshop
- January 9, 2014 - Supply Chain Consultation Process: Pilot Review Workshop
- March 22, 2013 - Role of Testing in FDA’s Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls Rule Workshop
- August 8, 2013 - Agricultural Water Standards and Testing Requirements in the Proposed Produce Safety Rule Workshop
- January 8, 2014 - Proposed Rule for Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals Workshop
- June 18, 2014 - Collaborative Implementation of FSMA: Large Workgroup Meeting 1
- September 29, 2014 - Collaborative Implementation of FSMA: Small Working Group Meeting
- November 14, 2014 - Collaborative Implementation of FSMA: Large Workgroup Meeting 2
- June 25-26, 2015 - Public Health-Based Metrics Workshop
- December 3, 2015 - Public Health-Based Metrics Workshop 2
- May 20, 2016 - Food Safety Culture and Associated Public-Health Based Metrics Workshop
- October 12-18, 2016 - Root-Cause Analysis Workshop
- April 27, 2017 - Reliable Audits
- October 3, 2017 - Potential Options for Revising the Agricultural Water Standard and Testing Protocols
At RESOLVE, we’re here to tackle the toughest global challenges. The ones nobody else wants to touch. Where people are in conflict and planet problems are stuck. We’re here to unstick them. It’s not easy. It takes grit and ingenuity. And finding and working with the right partners. But we’re not called RESOLVE for nothing.
