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Environmental Health-'Net

Posted on: Friday, 2 May 2008, 06:01 CDT

By Anonymous

* Anthrax Fact Sheet http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/anthrax/prep/ pdf/medkit-evaluation-summary-2007.pdf

This fact sheet provides an overview of the CDC emergency MedKit evaluation study which was designed to evaluate a strategy that addresses the timeliness of distributing antibiotics to the general public as an effective measure against a release of anthrax.

* Research Priorities in Emergency Preparedness and Response

http://www.emergency.cdc.gov/plarming/iomreport2008.asp

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently convened a committee to articulate gaps in knowledge and make recommendations regarding research priorities for improving emergency preparedness and response systems in public health. This study was done, at the request of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Coordinating Officer for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (COTPER), to assist the Department of Health and Human Services in meeting the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) mandate that Centers for Public Health Preparedness (CPHP) conduct research. Based on the committee's expert judgment, as well as information exchanged in the public meeting and workshop, it identified four top-priority research areas: (1) enhancing the usefulness of training, (2) improving timely emergency communications, (3) creating and maintaining sustainable response systems, and (4) generating effectiveness criteria and metrics.

* California Leafy Greens Status Report

http://www.caleafygreens.ca.gov/trade/documents/LG- MAStatusReport2007_001.pdf

The California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement (LGMA) has issued its first status report, detailing all audit findings from July through December 2007, as well as other actions undertaken since LGMA was established. The Status Report provides summary information from mandatory audits and as well as other food safety activities which have taken place since LGMA's creation. Among the report's highlights:

* 368 audits of leafy greens farms by trained and certified government inspectors were conducted from July 23, 2007 to December 31, 2007.

* The audit includes five specific areas of inspection with several "checkpoints" that inspectors must review for compliance. There are a total of 184 checkpoints that government inspectors must verify during an audit. The audits determined that the overall compliance with the LGMA food safety practices is quite high: LGMA member companies were in compliance with 99.3% of the check-points audited.

* Those audits resulted in 457 citations for non-conformities. None involved shipping unsafe product. Many of these citations involved incorrect or incomplete record keeping or minor infractions that could be fixed on site in the presence of government inspectors.

* Members of LGMA have significantly enhanced internal food safety systems involved in the production of leafy greens, and food safety expenditures by LGMA member companies have increased by 201% since September 2006.

LGMA was formed in the spring of 2007 in response to a foodborne illness outbreak in September 2006. Operating with oversight from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, LGMA is a mechanism for verifying, through mandatory government audits, that farmers follow accepted food safety practices for lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens. al Health and Nutrition Lxamination Surveys.

Copyright National Environmental Health Association May 2008

(c) 2008 Journal of Environmental Health. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: Journal of Environmental Health

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