The New Hampshire Public Health Association (NHPHA) recognizes the need to expand and strengthen initiatives to protect the public from intentionally and unintentionally contaminated food, in order to prevent illness and outbreaks of food-borne disease.  As indicated by the CDC, 76 million people get sick, 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 Americans die each year from food-borne illnesses.  (http://www.cdc.gov/foo...ety/default.htm accessed 02/2008).  Priority activities include:

• Proactively addressing threats to the food supply
• Frequent monitoring of food service establishments to ensure compliance with regulations;
• Educating consumers, the food service industry, and health care professionals about preventing food-borne illness;
• Educating health care professionals to diagnose and treat food-borne illness;
• Improving surveillance and investigation of food-borne disease, and investigation and control of food-borne outbreaks when they occur; and
• Educating the food service industry about improving the security of the food supply.

Resources:

Almanza Barbara A. and Melissa S. Nesmith, “Food Safety Certification Regulations in the United States,” Journal of Environmental Health. 66:9 (May 2004) 10-4, 20.
 
Sobel, Jeremy, Ali S. Khan and David L. Swerdlow.  “Threat of a biological terrorist attack on the US food supply: the CDC perspective,” Lancet.359 (March 9, 2002) 874-880.

Sobel, Jeremy et al. “Investigation of multistate food borne disease outbreaks,” Public Health Reports 117:1 (January/February 2002) 8-19.

US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food Safety Office.  http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/pfse.htm

US Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration. “Food Protection Plan: An Integrated Strategy for Protecting the Nation’s Food Supply,” November 2007.  http://www.fda.gov/oc/...e/food/plan.pdf

US Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, “Establishment and maintenance of records under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. Final Rule,” Federal Register, 69:236 (December 9, 2004) 71561-7165.