CDC Estimates of Foodborne Illness in the United States Website. This links to the CDC site which includes statistics and trends on the burden of foodborne illness in the United States.

CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response Manual (3rd Edition). A comprehensive best-practices document. The report focuses on improving detection and response to foodborne outbreaks, and is a comprehensive resource for federal, state and local agencies involved in investigating foodborne outbreaks.

Outbreak Investigation Model. This model provides guidelines for enteric disease outbreak investigation to local health departments. The model covers many parts of outbreak investigation, including epidemiologic, environmental, nursing, legal, and public information. (Developed by Utah Surveillance, Laboratory, and Epidemiology Workgroup)

Steps in a Foodborne Outbreak Investigation Table. A table of the steps in an outbreak investigation, as described in the module, and with the dance festival outbreak example.

Foodborne Surveillance Systems Website. A link to a list of the major foodborne illness surveillance, response, and data systems.

Outbreak Interviewing Strategies Training Video. This 30-minute film includes tips on interviewing and can be used alone or with the accompanying training guide. (From Oregon Public Health Department)

Epi Study Cheat Sheet. An explanation of the two main types of analytic epidemiology studies, case control and cohort. This document contains a description of the study as well as a cheat sheet for analyzing data and displaying the results. (From Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)

CIFOR Relationships with Relevant Agencies and Organizations Worksheet. This worksheet comes from the Toolkit for the CIFOR Guidelines for Foodborne Outbreak Response and is designed to assist agencies and jurisdictions so they can swiftly launch an outbreak response that is coordinated with all relevant agencies, minimizing confusion and redundant efforts and taking advantage of all available resources.

Foodborne Illness Report Form. An example of a report form used to document informal complaints of foodborne illness received by the local health or environmental health department. (From Boulder County Environmental Health Division).

Line List Template (MS Excel file). A line list is an essential part of an outbreak investigation and should be started right away. This is an example of a line list and what should be included.

Minnesota Hypothesis-Generating Questionnaire. An example of a questionnaire used to interview cases to help generate a hypothesis about what caused the outbreak. This questionnaire can be used as a basic template to help develop a more specific questionnaire, tailored to the current outbreak.

Oregon Shotgun Questionnaire. A shotgun questionnaire, or standardized questionnaire, can be used when there is no obvious exposure. 

EpiCurve How-To Instructions. An EpiCurve is used to determine both the time period during which the outbreak has occurred as well as to identify patterns of illness in an outbreak. This links to a PDF from the CDC which describes how to make an EpiCurve in Microsoft Excel.

Outbreak Report Example. This is a specific example of a finalized outbreak report, which is part of the documentation required after an outbreak. This document includes an example of a long report and a short report.

EpiReady. The Epi-Ready course is a team-based training for public health professionals involved in foodborne disease outbreak investigations. Coordinated by the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) and funded by CDC, it is a two day, face-to-face training. Epi-Ready focuses on how to efficiently and effectively respond to a foodborne disease outbreak through a “team-based” approach, bringing together the disciplines involved in the investigation of these outbreaks.

CDC-EHS. This e-Learning course module provides training on how to use a systems approach in foodborne outbreak environmental assessments. Participants acquire in-depth skills and knowledge to investigate foodborne illness outbreaks as a member of a larger outbreak response team, identify an outbreak’s environmental causes, and recommend appropriate control measures.

Foodborne Outbreak Investigation and Response Team Roles and Responsibilities. The Tennessee Integrate Food Safety Center of Excellence has a two part training describing rapid identification, investigation, and implementation of control measures for a foodborne disease outbreak.

Case Control Study
A type of observational analytic study. Enrollment into the study is based on the presence (“case”) or absence (“control”) of disease. Characteristics such as previous exposures are then compared between cases and controls.

Cohort Study
Type of observational analytic study. Enrollment in the study is based on exposure characteristics or membership in a group. Disease, death, or other health-related outcomes are then ascertained and compared.

Environmental Assessment
A systematic, detailed, science-based evaluation of environmental factors that contributed to transmission of a particular disease in an outbreak. An environmental health assessment focuses on the problem at hand and considers how the causative agent, food vehicle, processing methods, contributory factors, and environmental antecedents interacted to result in the problem.

Epidemic Curve
A histogram that shows the course of a disease outbreak or epidemic by plotting the number of cases by time of onset. Epidemic curves help characterize an outbreak and give clues about the source of the outbreak (e.g., common or point source, secondary spread, etc.).

Foodborne Disease Outbreak
Two or more people with the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink.

Foodborne Illness
An illness caused by an agent that enters the body through the ingestion of food.

Line List
A table listing case names, age, sex, onset time, residence, symptoms, employment, etc., which facilitates comparisons of many characteristics for possible similarities or associations.