Food Safety Programs and Activities

ADPH participates in a variety of food safety programs and activities aimed at improving Alabama's response and management of enteric disease investigations and outbreaks. These programs and activities are spread across three different Bureaus within ADPH, including the Bureaus of Clinical Laboratories, Communicable Disease, and Environmental Services.

At a Glance

• Population Estimate (2018): 4,887,871
• Structure: Largely centralized
• Initial Case Interviewing Responsibility: District Investigator
• Pulsed Field-Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) Certified: Yes
• Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) Certified: Yes

Program Highlights

• A monthly meeting is held with staff around the state (e.g., environmental, epidemiology, laboratory, information technology) to discuss current local and multistate outbreaks, recalls, training opportunities, and other hot topics. This communication fosters a good working relationship among all of those involved in investigating outbreaks.
• Utilizing federal funds [Epidemiology & Laboratory Capacity (ELC) grant], ADPH purchased technology that would allow the foodborne epidemiologist to assist the laboratorians with identifying enteric disease clusters based on pulsed field-gel eletrophoresis (DNA fingerprints) patterns. Since its installation in April 2018, ADPH has identified 19 enteric disease clusters.
• In 2017, ADPH hosted three separate DETECT (Decrease Epidemiological Threats with Environmental Controls and Testing) Foodborne Outbreaks (FBO) Strategy Trainings. Public health staff statewide were educated on a coordinated approach to investigate FBOs.

Complementary Programs and Activities

• CaliciNet
• CryptoNet
• Food Emergency Response Network (FERN)
• Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS)
• National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS)
• National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) Base System (NBS)
• National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS)
• OutbreakNet Enhanced (OBNE)
• PulseNet
• Retail Food Safety Program Standards Mentorship Program