FDA’s Bad Bug Book. The Bad Bug Book provides current information about the major known agents that cause foodborne illness. (Published by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition of the Food and Drug Administration)

CDC’s Most Common Contributing Factors Summary. A list describing the most common contributing factors, organized by contamination, proliferation, and survival.

Other Routine Inspections Table. A table comparing routine inspections to environmental assessments.

CIFOR Foodborne Illness Response Guidelines for Owners, Operators, and Managers of Food Establishments. The CIFOR Industry Guidelines were developed as a voluntary guidance for owners, operators, and managers of retail food establishments (”Industry”) to help outline, clarify, and explain Industry’s recommended role in a foodborne illness outbreak investigation. The document provides step-by-step approaches to important aspects of outbreak response such as preparation, detection, investigation, control, and follow-up.

Food Source Information Wiki. The Food Source Information Wiki was developed by Colorado State University (CSU), in collaboration with the Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), as part of the Colorado Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence. The goal of the Food Source Information Wiki is to provide public health professionals with rapid access to basic information on production practices and food distribution systems for a range of agricultural food products, from farm to fork. By centralizing this information and delivering it in a format that meets the needs of public health professionals, the wiki aims to bridge an important knowledge gap and improve outbreak response nationwide.

Foodborne Outbreak Investigation Environmental Assessment Checklist (MS Word file). A model of a questionnaire used during an environmental assessment. (Courtesy of Boulder County Environmental Health Division)

Environmental Assessment Activities Checklist. A checklist of all the activities which should be excluded from work.

Employee Exclusion from Work Flow Chart. A flowchart to help determine if an employee should be excluded from work. (From StateFoodSafety.com)

Exclusion, Restriction, and Reinstatement Work Requirements Table. A table to determine exclusion, restriction, and reinstatement requirements by pathogen. Specific to Colorado State. (Courtesy of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)

Operations Flow Diagram Example. An example diagram of the flow of operations in a food establishment. Flow diagrams can be used to verify production activities and help determine sources of microbial contamination, survival, or proliferation. (From EpiReady)

Example Food Flow Through Facility Chart. An example diagram of the food flow through an establishment which shows where the food and its ingredients have been and can help investigators identify possible points where cross contamination may have occurred.

IAFP Food Preparation Summary. A model from the International Association for Food Protection which guides a food processing and preparation history during an environmental assessment.

Environmental Assessment Quick Reference Summary. A summary tool for conducting environmental assessments in a foodborne disease outbreak investigation with lists on what to focus on during the assessment. (From Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) 

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. 

Contributing Factors. 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 Antecedents. The root cause or circumstances that set the stage for contributing factors to occur, including economic constraints, inadequate worker education, management decisions, social and cultural beliefs. Antecedents must be addressed to eliminate contributing factors.

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.

Facility Plan Review. A facility plan review also addresses food safety problems that might occur in the future. Like a HACCP review, the facility plan review is undertaken before a food safety problem occurs. It is preventitive and proactive. A facility plan review provides a systematic evaluation of structural plans, equipment, and related procedures prior to construction and opening of a facility.

HACCP Risk Assessment Review. A Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (or HACCP) risk assessment review addresses food safety problems that might occur in the future. The review is undertaken before a food safety problem occurs, often (but not always) when a new food establishment is opened, a new owner takes over, or a new food is added to the menu. The review is preventitive and proactive.

Routine Regulatory Inspection. Regulatory inspections address food safety problems occurring at the establishment on the day of the inspection – today. They are routinely scheduled and are undertaken when there is no specific information (e.g., outbreak or complain) to suggest any process in the establishment is out of control. They focus on the present situation and what could potentially cause illness or a foodborne outbreak at facility.

Source Traceback. An investigation to determine the production chain of an implicated food when multiple food facilities are involved in an outbreak.