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T12-02 Using a Quantitative Risk Assessment on Norovirus Transmission in Food Establishments to Improve and Prioritize the Implementation of Control Measures

Wednesday, July 12, 2017: 1:45 PM
Room 16 (Tampa Convention Center)
Girvin Liggans , U.S. Food and Drug Administration , College Park , MD
Wendy Fanaselle , U.S. Food and Drug Administration , College Park , MD
Steven Duret , U.S. Food and Drug Administration , College Park , MD
Efstathia Papafragkou , U.S. Food and Drug Administration , Laurel , MD
Regis Pouillot , U.S. Food and Drug Administration–CFSAN , College Park , MD
Laurie Williams , U.S. Food and Drug Administration , College Park , MD
Jane Van Doren , U.S. Food and Drug Administration , College Park , MD
Introduction: Most norovirus foodborne illness in the United States is from contamination of food by infected food employees in retail food establishments. The FDA Food Code has addressed the control of norovirus transmission from ill food employees to RTE food since 2005, but the incidence of foodborne norovirus has not declined since these provisions were first published. A recently published quantitative risk assessment model on the transmission of norovirus in retail food establishments provides the FDA with a new tool for the evaluation of preventive measures, based on employee compliance.

Purpose: This study investigated the use of this model as a new tool in prioritizing and implementing Food Code provisions to control the transmission of foodborne norovirus.

Methods: The model is used as a tool in evaluating foodborne norovirus control strategies. Results from the model are evaluated with food employee compliance to identify and focus on critical controls necessary to have an impact on foodborne norovirus in the United States.

Results: The model results support the current recommendations of the FDA Food Code and highlight the importance of food employee compliance with many of these strategies. Results show these prevention strategies could reduce, but not prevent norovirus transmission to food when a symptomatic employee is present in the food establishment. Full compliance with all Food Code interventions reduces the mean level of infected customers to 30.3 (90% variability interval=0,116) and the mean number of sick customers to 0.3 (90% variability level=0.0, 1.7). In contrast, no compliance with exclusion measures increases infected customers to 167.4 (90% variability interval=29.0, 357.7) and ill customers to 5.2 (90% variability interval=0.1, 17.2) for every 2,000 food servings.

Significance: Study results showed that using this model to evaluate Food Code guidelines can provide new insights for implementation and maximum impact on reducing norovirus foodborne illness.

Back to: Technical Session 12 - Modeling and Risk Assessment and Retail and Food Service Safety
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