Foodborne Diseases Committee

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.  

• 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.  

• Developing a series of webinars to capture strategies for improving enteric Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) testing efficiency and cost efficiency. 
• 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 Yersinia 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 Survey 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.” 

The Committee was instrumental in producing the following materials: 

• Isolation and Identification of Vibrio species from Culture-independent Diagnostic Test Positive Specimens

• 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 Lab Culture News series on next generation sequencing (NGS) intended to introduce NGS and its critical role in food safety testing: 

• How Next Generation Sequencing is Revolutionizing Food Safety 
• What Happens When Food Makes You Sick? The Crucial Role of Public Health Laboratories. 
• From Report to Recall: Meet the Professionals Behind a Foodborne Illness Investigation

• Sea, Salt and Sickness: Isolation and Identification of Vibrio Species from CIDTs (January 2026)

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