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Foodborne Diseases Committee

The Foodborne Diseases Committee advises on and influences the practices of non-federal, governmental laboratories that perform clinical, food and environmental testing in support of public health surveillance and investigation of foodborne illness. 

Questions?

Contact us: [email protected]

Our Purpose

About the Committee

Committee Charge

The Foodborne Diseases Committee advises and influences the practices of non-federal, governmental laboratories that perform clinical, food and environmental testing in support of public health surveillance and investigation of foodborne illness. The committee develops and disseminates standard practices; conceives, integrates and helps drive collaborative activities with relevant partners; ensures member advocacy through representation on national work groups and committees and monitors the capabilities and capacity of member laboratories.  

Priorities

  • Champion and advance foodborne disease surveillance programs. 
  • Support isolate-based sequencing and the advancement of non-isolate based sequencing for food safety testing. 
  • Contribute to the development of best practices and guidelines related to food safety and foodborne illness testing. 
  • Support the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) and CIFOR work groups.  
Our Work

Projects and Work Products

Current Projects

The Foodborne Diseases Committee is currently working on: 

  • Foodborne disease surveillance prioritization schemes and suggested cost saving measures (including next generation process efficiencies) in anticipation of major decreases in federally supported grants.  
  • A laboratory testing workflow to isolate and identify Vibrio species from culture independent diagnostic tests CIDT) and stool specimens as efficiently as possible.  
  • Updating guidelines for the diagnosis of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections in public health laboratories. 
  • A summary of findings from the 2024 Food Safety Ssurvey intended to gather information from local and state public health and agriculture laboratories on their current food safety testing practices. 
  • CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response updates for “Chapter 4: Foodborne Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Detection.” 

Recently Completed Work Products

The Committee was instrumental in producing the following materials: 

Guidance Documents

Stories from the Field 

  • A Lab Matters article highlighting how metagenomics is being used in food safety.  
  • A Lab Matters article describing how APHL has been responding to the longstanding challenges that CIDTs present to public health.  

A three-part NGS blog post series intended to introduce NGS and its critical role in food safety testing: 

 

Our Team

Meet the Committee

The Committee has members representing state, local and institutional APHL member laboratories. 

Kelly F. Oakeson, PhD
Chair | Utah Public Health Laboratory (Unified State Laboratory) 

Alyssa Dickey, PhD
Vice Chair | New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets 

Anthony Tran, DrPH, MPH, D(ABMM)
APHL Board of Directors Liaison | California Department of Public Health Laboratory

Stephanie Abromaitis, PhD 
California Department of Public Health Laboratory 

Christopher Benton, PhD, MB (ASCP) CM, PHLD (ABB) 
New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories 

Heather Blankenship, PhD
Western Upper Peninsula Health Department Laboratory

Drew Francis, M(ASCP)
Arizona State Public Health Laboratory

Esther Fortes
Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Jisun Haan, PhD
Minnesota Public Health Laboratory Division 

Kara Levinson, PhD, MPH, D(ABMM) 
Tennessee Department of Health: Laboratory Services

Lisa Mingle, PhD
New York State Department of Health—Wadsworth Center

Karim Morey
Oregon State Public Health Laboratory

Aaron Olsen, PhD
New York City Public Health Laboratory

Ami Patel, PhD
MRIGlobal

Lauren Turner, PhD
Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services

Eric Vaugn, DrPH, MPH
DC Department of Forensic Sciences—Public Health Laboratory 

Kirsten Larson, MPH
Committee Liaison 

Shari Shea, MHS, MT(ASCP)
Program Lead