In a single week in August 2011, public health officials learned of six Coloradans seriously ill from listeria, a deadly and typically rare infection. Alerted to the outbreak, they began an intense race to find and address the source, knowing that with each additional day more people would be exposed and sickened.
The 2011 listeria outbreak — eventually linked to cantaloupes grown here in Colorado — became the deadliest in our nation's history, sickening at least 147 people in 28 states and killing 31.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, leading national authorities recognized that quick and effective action by responders at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment saved lives. Fast and effective outbreak investigations are critical to keeping our food safe. Not only can they find and remove unsafe food from the marketplace, but they also provide vital information on what went wrong so that changes can be made to prevent future illnesses.
Responding to outbreaks in today's highly complex food system is extremely challenging. To start, detecting outbreaks at an early stage before large numbers of people are sickened is difficult. We rely on disease-reporting systems that are chronically underfunded and understaffed. Once detected, the response demands a team of disease investigators with a broad range of specific skills, experience and training. Large, multistate outbreaks are increasingly common as our food system becomes more centralized and foods are widely distributed. Responses to events such as the 2011 listeria outbreak require coordination of dozens of local, state and federal agencies.
On Jan. 4, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed sweeping new food safety rules as part of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act. Focused on preventing foodborne illness outbreaks like those caused by contaminated peanuts, cantaloupe and leafy greens, the new rules require food companies to develop formal food-safety plans and farmers to adhere to new standards for the safe production and harvesting of high-risk fruits and vegetables.
While prevention is the highest priority, another critically important component of the Food Safety Modernization Act is a major commitment to improving the nation' ability to detect food safety problems earlier and respond to outbreaks faster and more effectively. Colorado has been selected to lead this effort as an Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence. The center — a joint effort between the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Colorado State University — will act as one of five national centers dedicated to identifying best practices for outbreak detection and response, sharing our successes with public health authorities locally and nationally. The center's employees will work to develop innovative approaches to investigate outbreaks that are cost-effective to implement in the current economic climate.
Another important component of the center will be training the public health professionals and responders in outbreak methods. Future leaders will be trained in food safety through academic courses and by providing students with hands-on experience in conducting outbreak investigations. Already, students at the Colorado School of Public Health have been trained as rapid-outbreak responders to assist the state or local health departments during outbreak responses.
The listeria outbreak of 2011 was tragically preventable. The Center of Excellence is committed to working with industry, academia and public health agencies to keep our food safe and prevent such unnecessary loss of life again.
Elaine Scallan, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Denver, where her research focuses on foodborne disease.