IFSAC Announces Priorities for 2022–2023

Constituent Update

January 14, 2022

The Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC) — a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) — has published its priorities for calendar years 2024–2028.

IFSAC is extending the goals and objectives outlined in IFSAC’s most recent strategic plan (2017–2021), with special emphasis on incorporating data from sporadic (non-outbreak associated) illnesses to estimate sources of foodborne illness. Although IFSAC has always focused on estimating the sources of all (not just outbreak-associated) illnesses, the methods have thus far only used data from outbreaks. In recent years, IFSAC has developed methods to use data from sporadic illnesses to incorporate into our estimates. We will continue to develop and refine these methods to attribute illness to sources, pursuing external collaborations as needed to maximize capabilities and access to data sources.

During the next two years, IFSAC will continue publishing annual reports on foodborne source attribution for four priority pathogens: Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter. IFSAC also intends to evaluate our approach to attributing Campylobacter illnesses to specific food categories.

IFSAC was established in 2011 to improve coordination of federal food safety analytic efforts and address cross-cutting priorities for food safety data collection, analysis, and use. For more information on IFSAC projects, visit https://www.cdc.gov/ifsac/php/projects/index.html or email IFSAC@fda.hhs.gov.