The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking further action to help prevent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses associated with certain foods through the development of food safety prevention strategies.

When a foodborne illness outbreak occurs, the FDA, through its Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) Network and federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, and international public health partners, as appropriate, work together to determine what food may have caused the outbreak and how it became contaminated. After the outbreak investigation ends, the information learned can be used to contribute to a food safety prevention strategy for that food.

These prevention strategies are an affirmative, deliberate approach undertaken by the FDA and stakeholders to help limit or prevent future outbreaks, similar to the approach taken as part of the Leafy Green STEC Action Plan (LGAP), which has outlined multi-faceted steps to reduce Shiga toxin-producing E. coli outbreaks associated with the consumption of leafy greens. The strategies examine commodity-hazard pairings, potential sources and routes of contamination, and what can be done to reduce incidences of foodborne illness in the future. The strategies also identify existing knowledge gaps and needed areas of focus to inform and promote research and engagement with external stakeholders on steps that can be taken, collaboratively, to protect public health and prevent future outbreaks.

While the agency is working with industry, state, international and other partners on the development of several food safety prevention strategies, the FDA is releasing the following first two strategies:

• Salmonellosis and listeriosis associated with imported enoki and wood ear mushrooms
• Salmonellosis associated with bulb onions

Additional prevention strategies for other foods will be released as they become available.

The food safety prevention strategies build on the foundational work established by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act and FDA's Strategy for the Safety of Imported Food. They also leverage data enhancements and modern approaches embodied in FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety. New Era priorities reflected in the prevention strategies include invigorating root cause analyses and advancing the goals set forth in FDA’s Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan.

You can view all the prevention strategies on the FDA Food Safety Prevention Strategy web page.

For More Information

• Leafy Greens STEC Action Plan
• Public Health Advisories from Investigations of Foodborne Illness Outbreaks
• FDA CORE Network
• New Era of Smarter Food Safety
• FDA's Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan
• Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
• FDA’s Strategy for the Safety of Imported Food