Environmental Health Specialist Network (EHS-Net) - Practice Based Research to Improve Food Safety

Abstract Tennessee EHS-Net Application 2020Foodborne pathogens cause substantial burden of illness. The Tennessee Department of Health(TDH) considers involvement in EHS-Net vital to promoting safe practices, educatingenvironmentalists and epidemiologists in outbreak investigation, preventing illness, adding to thebody of generalizable knowledge about food safety and environmental contamination, anddemonstrating to health officials, industry, and the general public the value of food safetymeasures. This application will demonstrate our EHS-Net objectives, our history of EHS-Netaccomplishments, and our future EHS-Net plans.We will continue the interagency approach in the Tennessee EHS-Net Food Program bysupporting two full-time environmentalists (one designated as Co-PI), in two of the state?s mostpopulated regions that contain comprehensive food safety programs. They are strategicallypositioned so the entire state has coverage for outbreak response, training, and conductingsingle and multi-site EHS-Net studies. These environmentalist and the EHS-Net PI will activelycontribute to all aspects of the five Tennessee food safety projects listed below and willparticipate in steering committee and working group calls.Projects will include the following:1. Operate EHS-Net in Tennessee as a Collaborative Consortium Member2. Evaluate, Promote, and Implement the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS)3. Farmers? Market Raw Dairy and Safe Food Practices Assessment4. Development of a dashboard and routine user updates to increase complaint system uptake by regional and local health departments5. Raw Animal Product Handling and Availability on Food Service Menus, Tennessee- Specific StudyContinued participation in multi-state EHS-Net studies will also remain a high priority.