The Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC), a joint effort of the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the USDA’s FSIS, has issued a new strategic plan for 2017-2021.

IFSAC was created in 2011 as a multi-agency effort to provide better coordination of federal food safety analysis and data collection. It focuses its analytic efforts on Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter. The four pathogens cause an estimated 1.9 million cases of foodborne illness every year in the United States.

The new strategic plan is designed to continue to offer improved information on the sources of foodborne illnesses. To do this, the plan sets goals in the areas of data sources, improved analytic methods and models, and enhanced communication. Among the methods used to meet these goals are incorporating genomic data, developing new analytic approaches and models, and expanding the availability of technical and scientific expertise by working with internal and external partners.

To learn more about IFSAC, visit https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/ifsac/index.html.