Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System

About

FDOSS is CDC’s program for collecting and reporting data about foodborne disease outbreaks in the United States. It is a part of the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS).

What's collected

FDOSS collects information about foodborne disease outbreaks, such as

  • Date and location of the outbreak
  • Number of people who became ill and their symptoms
  • Food or drink implicated
  • Setting where the food or drink was prepared and eaten
  • Pathogen (germ, toxin, or chemical) that caused the outbreak

FDOSS uses the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC) food categorization scheme to organize, analyze, and interpret data about foods implicated in foodborne disease outbreaks.

How the data are used

CDC uses this information to better understand the germs, foods, settings, and contributing factors (for example, food not kept at the right temperature) involved in outbreaks. CDC also uses the information to identify emerging foodborne disease threats and to shape and assess outbreak prevention measures.

What outbreak information can provide
Why this information is important
Foods associated with outbreaks
  • Identifies foods most commonly reported in outbreaks, and changes in how frequently certain foods are implicated
  • Provides information on the causes of food contamination
  • Identifies germ-food pairs most often linked to outbreaks
  • Offers insight into how well prevention measures are working, which can lead to new policies and practices
Germs associated with outbreaks
  • Identifies germs reported in outbreaks, and changes in how frequently certain germs are implicated
  • Provides information on how specific germs affect people and the significance of these germs to the public’s health
  • Identifies germ-food pairs most often linked to outbreaks
  • Offers insight into how well prevention measures to reduce those germs are working, which can lead to new best practices and industry standards
Where germs contaminate food
  • Identifies points in the food production chain (for example, at a farm or production plant) and post-production (for example, during transportation, or at a grocery store, restaurant, or home) where germs contaminate food
  • Offers insight into how well prevention measures to reduce those germs are working, which can lead to new best practices and industry standards
Places outbreaks happen, including where food is made and eaten
  • Tells us where outbreaks are more likely to occur, and if those places are changing over time
  • Points out food preparation and handling practices that can lead to outbreaks
  • Offers insight into how well prevention measures are working, which can lead to new best practices and industry standards

A brief history of U.S. foodborne disease outbreak reporting

  • 1923: The Public Health Service begins publishing annual summaries of foodborne disease outbreaks linked to milk.
  • 1938: The Public Health Service expands reporting to all foodborne outbreaks.
  • 1961: CDC, then called the Communicable Disease Center, takes over reporting from the Public Health Service.
  • 1961–1965: CDC provides outbreak statistics and accounts of individual outbreaks in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
  • 1966: In response to growing interest in foodborne diseases, CDC resumes publishing annual summaries of foodborne disease outbreaks.
  • 1966–1982: CDC publishes outbreak data as stand-alone booklets.
  • 1982–2010: CDC returns to publishing reports in MMWR.
  • 2011: CDC begins to post annual summaries online.
  • 2018–2024: CDC publishes data in NORS Dashboard.
  • 2024: CDC migrates NORS data to Bacteria, Enterics, Amoeba, and Mycotics (BEAM) Dashboard, a more comprehensive web-based tool for searching and accessing CDC data.

Tip‎

Click "NORS View" to see NORS data in BEAM Dashboard.

Background information

What's a foodborne illness?

A foodborne illness occurs when someone gets sick after consuming a contaminated food or drink. It is also called foodborne disease, foodborne infection, or food poisoning. More than 250 agents are known to cause foodborne illness. These agents include germs (such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites) and chemicals (such as ciguatoxin).

What's a foodborne disease outbreak?

A foodborne disease outbreak occurs when two or more people get the same illness from the same contaminated food or drink. Nearly all of the more than 250 agents known to cause foodborne illness can cause an outbreak.

Resources