Minnesota’s Exemplary Food Safety Initiatives

This infrastructure and capacity are evidence of Minnesota’s excellence in food safety leadership, Dr. Smith says.

“In Minnesota, on the regulatory side, we are excellent,” he asserts. “We enjoy collaboration with our laboratory and regulatory partners, who are strong. We are a centralized health department. We gave a good setup, a good system, and resources.”

In 2014 there were 60 confirmed foodborne disease outbreaks in Minnesota, with 37 (62 percent) being caused by norovirus, six (10 percent) due to Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, and five (8 percent) being traced to Salmonella. In 2013 there were 42 confirmed foodborne disease outbreaks in the state, with 21 (50 percent) being caused by norovirus and eight (19 percent) being traced to Salmonella.

The CoE was responsible for refining the tools that Minnesota’s food safety professionals used in detecting and investigating those outbreaks, Dr. Smith says.

“The Minnesota CoE partners have a passion for success,” Dr. Smith emphasizes. “We continually strive to improve our surveillance capabilities and increase the speed with which we detect foodborne disease outbreaks. We learn from outbreaks. Outbreaks help us to learn how food gets contaminated and how to prevent future outbreaks.”

Rapid Response Team

Within the MDA Food and Feed Safety Division (FFSD), the Rapid Response Team (RRT) is charged with investigating food safety issues that arise as part of foodborne illness outbreaks or problems identified in food or animal feed facilities in Minnesota, according to Alida Sorenson, MPH, recall coordinator and an investigator for the RRT.

Founded in 2008, the RRT consists of technical experts in food manufacturing, food inspection, microbiology, and epidemiology. There are two full-time RRT staff, and the remaining members are brought in on an as-needed basis, Sorenson notes.

“Members of the RRT work closely with the epidemiologists at the MDH when people become sick from food,” Sorenson relates. “This team quickly traces contaminated foods back to their source to help identify the cause of an outbreak. The RRT was instrumental in helping to solve several large national outbreaks in recent years.”

The RRT also works closely with inspectors in the FFSD when a food facility in Minnesota has a microbiological contamination problem, Sorenson continues. “Team members coordinate the investigation to identify the sources of contamination, if the contamination likely got into the food, and which food products may be subject to recall,” she explains. “This work is done quickly to prevent contaminated food from being sold and to ensure that the public is informed of any potentially contaminated food products that may be in their homes.”

The RRT provides response leadership and assistance to a variety of investigations, Sorenson says.

“During fiscal year 2014, the RRT conducted 53 investigations, of which 47 percent were investigations into human illness and 13 resulted in a recall and/or consumer advisory,” she notes. “Sampling was conducted in 22 of the investigations, and18 of the 22 sampling assignments yielded positive results for the pathogen, allergen, or pesticide of interest.”

In fiscal year 2015, RRT was involved in 42 investigations, of which 83 percent were investigations into human illness and six resulted in a product recall. “As testament to RRT efficiency, some 60 percent of all 2015 investigations were completed in less than a month,” Sorenson points out. “And it is important to mention that the RRT assisted in the response to the widely publicized outbreak of highly-pathogenic avian influenza in Minnesota.”

The RRT has developed procedures and best practices for how a response team should function that have become models for other states. “Minnesota has mentored New York State in developing their own RRT, and just recently took on the mentorship of the newest RRT, Wisconsin,” Sorenson says. “Minnesota RRT mentorship responsibilities include regular check-ins with the mentee, providing guidance during response activities, and sharing procedural documents to assist in the development of the mentee state’s RRT.”