Friend of the barfblog, Michéle Samarya-Timm, MA, HO, MCHES, REHS, health educator and registered environmental health specialist at the Somerset County Department of Health in Somerville, New Jersey, has graciously made time from the public health front lines to continue her U.S. Thanksgiving tradition of contributing to the barfblog.
It’s the 10th month of COVID-19 response for public health professionals in the U.S.
That’s 46 straight weeks (and counting) of conducting public testing clinics, providing COVID-19 information and test results, contact tracing, and educating on prevention.
In addition, public health has been proactive with regular disease prevention work, holding COVID-safe flu clinics, providing guidance to food establishments, schools and workplaces, and planning for the herculean task of vaccinating 70% of the population (twice) for COVID-19 as soon as the vaccine is delivered.
We do what we’ve been trained to do, and what needs to be done to protect our residents. It’s the prime directive of public health: prevent disease and save lives.
Be thankful, as I am, for their dedication and efforts as you pass the turkey…and pass the hand sanitizer.
This year, in addition to food safe practices to assure a disease-free meal, remember to add 3 W’s:
Longtime friend of the barfblog.com, Michéle Samarya-Timm, health educator at the Somerset County Department of Health (that’s in New Jersey, represent) writes:
Baking pumpkin pies with Aunt Kay’s secret recipe. Watching Miracle on 34th Street. Preparing the dining room with the good china. Diffusing political conversations at the dinner table.
Some traditions give a sense of warmth, connection, and continuity, and regularly define a family’s holiday. Unfortunately, there is now a need to add an additional tradition to the season – actively checking for foodborne outbreaks and recalls to prevent folks from getting sick.
Last week, on Tuesday, November 20th at 2pm, (two days before Thanksgiving), the CDC posted a media statement with advice to consumers, restaurants, and retailers:
“CDC is advising that U.S. consumers not eat any romaine lettuce, and retailers and restaurants not serve or sell any, until we learn more about the outbreak.”
The need to release such a notice, right before a major holiday is an unpropitious scenario. It was also very concerning in its specificity to consumers, retailers and restaurants:
“Wash and sanitize drawers or shelves in refrigerators where romaine was stored.”
Such an alert is most effective if it reaches the intended audiences. Folks at my holiday table did not hear about the outbreak. Neither did many local health departments.
Issuing media releases is one way for public health agencies to reach large groups of people. However, distracted by holiday preparations, travel, shopping, family, football and bad weather this advisory was only partially disseminated to the public. A person had to be following news outlets or social media to receive timely notice. I heard about the recall from the woman next to me while I was getting a haircut – not from the CDC or FDA, or any other federal or state agency.
It’s disturbing. The CDC could have sent this info directly to local health departments, or notify them that a news release was issued. This was not the first time as a local public health official that I received delayed – or no – official communication about a national foodborne issue.
Local public health professionals rely on communications systems established by federal and state oversight agencies. Most commonly, if a verified or suspect foodborne contamination or outbreak has occurred, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will ascertain the appropriateness of information release. If this information is deemed credible, notification is forwarded individually or en masse to state departments of health. The states, in turn, push this information down to local regulators. Each step in the process contains elements that may delay the rapid dissemination of outbreak information. The ability and willingness of all stakeholders to quickly and readily share incident particulars with fellow responding agencies can enhance effectiveness and amplify response efforts.
Electronically sending this advisory directly to the nearly 3,000 local health departments in the US would provide the opportunity for hundreds of health inspectors, health educators, epidemiologists and other to reach the hospitals, food banks, schools, mom and pop establishments and local residents who may not have otherwise received the alert. This was a missed opportunity, and hopefully one that didn’t cause additional cases of illness.
As I’ve written before, coordinated communication strategies within and between public health agencies is less robust than it should be. As a result, state and local public health officials may hear about foodborne disease issues first from other sources, such as the media, word of mouth, public complaints, or the food industry.
We need to learn how to communicate better with each other. Local public health shouldn’t have to keep an eye on the news media, Twitter or Facebook for information pertinent to protecting the people in our jurisdictions. A multitude of electronic portals exist for purposes of interagency communication, CDC, FDA, and the public health system should collectively define how pertinent information – such as this romaine advisory – rapidly and routinely gets to the grass roots public health workforce. Continuously improving interagency coordination and communication is a goal that is fundamental to increasing the effectiveness of this nation’s food safety systems. I’m putting this out there, because I’m willing to help with the solution. That way, in future years, I can spend my holidays perfecting Aunt Kay’s pie recipe.
This holiday, I’m thankful for public health influencers and amplifiers – like barfblog.com – that act as outbreak aggregators, and push out info to local public health types like me.
Some background information and recommendations on this topic can be found in: Getting the message across: an analysis of foodborne outbreak communications between federal, state, and local health agencies https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/49379
Friend of the blog Michéle Samarya-Timm, with the Somerset County Department of Health (Jersey, represent) has written a new paper that will get food safety types excited, because food protection programs involve not only the safety of the food processing facilities in the food supply chain, but also the development and use of effective defense measures against intentional contamination.
Michéle writes in Defending the Food Supply: The Basic Recipe that “the term food defense can be a perplexing concept, especially since it represents protecting the food supply from intentional, criminal, and/or malicious contamination. In practice, food safety and food defense overlap in certain respects, but still can be used in a synergistic fashion to build on existing food protection programs.
“For food defense efforts to be effective, though, some common myths must be dispelled and certain resources shared to lay the groundwork for a culture of overarching food protection at local as well as state and federal levels. Among the most important aspects of an effective food defense strategy are the steps taken to: (a) involve the local level; (b) determine vulnerabilities; (c) integrate federal requirements; (d) locate and/or develop essential resources and training plans; and (e) fund the preceding and other initiatives that might be taken.”
In Michéle’s words, “All too often, media reports on stupid, strange or wacky things that are found in food, or showcase idiotic things that employees have done to food. If nothing else, this serves to illustrate how easy it is to intentionally contaminate food products where they are being prepared. Local regulators need to become more actively engaged in integrating food defense into their inspections – especially at resource limited mom and pop type establishments — and share easy to use and understand educational resources, such as the readily available FDA tools.”
Patti Elliot, acting director for the Franklin Township Health Department said,
"Michele’s enthusiasm for the field of public health is surpassed by no one.”
Samarya-Timm is the only health educator to receive the professional distinction of Diplomate in the American Academy of Sanitarians and has been recognized as an emerging public health leader by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
In Franklin, Samarya-Timm established a model of the CDC’s "It’s a SNAP!" handwashing program, created a youth-based pandemic preparedness/handwashing program, and a handwashing/hygiene and illness reporting program for food handlers.
On a national level, Samarya-Timm works with the Food and Drug Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, the CDC and other agencies on establishing timely food safety and food outbreak information to consumers.
It’s the 10th month of COVID-19 response for public health professionals in the U.S.
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Patti Elliot, acting director for the Franklin Township Health Department said,