Indiana State Health Improvement Plan (I-SHIP) - State of Indiana

Assure Food Safety
not dependent on serotype or PFGE results but are conducted upon initial
notification. Information collected from LHD case interviews, reference
laboratories, and the ISDH laboratory (serotype and confirmatory testing) is
entered into the Indiana National Electronic Disease Surveillance System
(INEDSS) for review by the Enteric Epidemiologist. Local clusters with
common risk factors or serotypes are identified at this time.
In addition to passive surveillance activities, ISDH also conducts outbreak
investigations for enteric illnesses. Improvements in molecular laboratory
testing methods of enteric bacteria have made it easier to identify foodborne
disease outbreaks at a State and National level. In 2009, ISDH reported 10
confirmed cases of listeriosis, 572 confirmed cases of salmonellosis, and 62
confirmed cases of Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) infections. These
numbers do not include the suspect, probable, or lost-to followup/unconfirmed
cases which still required time and resources to investigate.
In 2009, ISDH also investigated and reported to National Outbreak
Reporting System (NORS) 31 clusters of foodborne illness caused by
Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and STEC identified by either
Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) or traditional epidemiologic
methods. These clusters contributed a total of 67 cases of illness to ISDH‘s
2009 surveillance numbers and required additional time and resources of
State and local Public Health professionals to investigate.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommend 280-
320 inspections per full-time employee (FTE). This equals roughly 150
establishments per FTE if 2 inspections occur each day per year on average.
Source: 2010 Food Protection Survey, Indiana State Department of Health, Food Protection Program