University Epidemiology Report: Foodborne Illness Article Review

This report provides an analysis of an epidemiology article concerning foodborne illnesses, specifically focusing on the role of environmental assessments (EAs) in identifying and mitigating contamination sources. The article, sourced from the FDA, emphasizes the importance of EAs in evaluating factors contributing to foodborne illnesses, including the assessment of contamination sources in agricultural and industrial areas, as well as monitoring food manufacturing processes. The report highlights the strengths of the article, such as its readability and comprehensiveness, while also acknowledging limitations, including its focus on industrial processes rather than household practices and the lack of detail regarding the timing and frequency of audits. The report references the FDA's guidelines, and other research articles to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic and its implications for public health.

Running head: EPIDEMIOLOGY
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Article link: https://www.fda.gov/food/recallsoutbreaksemergencies/outbreaks/ucm235425.htm.
Summary: The chosen article sheds light on the importance underlying the conductance
of environmental assessments (EA) for the purpose of evaluation of the contributory factors
associated with the contamination of food and water sources or the occurrence of food borne
illnesses. The article provides key details on the function of an EA workforce, whose first duty in
the conductance of assessments will be the evaluation of information available concerning the
chosen food borne illness such as potential sources of contamination in the industrial or
agricultural areas as well conductance of monitoring food manufacturing processes which may
be have contributed to the illness. Coupled with the collection of samples from the environment
for the purpose of detection of the concerned microbes, the EA will also involve the
disseminating educational information on the strategies underlying illness prevention, among
farmers as well as industrialists. The lastly, the key function of the EA will involve collection of
industrial documents pertaining to policies, record logs, documentation and regulatory
frameworks utilized by the concerned food manufacturing industry followed by their evaluation
as a means of understanding the quality underlying chosen food manufacturing procedures (Food
and Drug Administration 2019).
Strengths and Limitations: A key strength of this article lies in the convenience
underlying its readability. A lay publication must use language which is easy to comprehend by
mainstream society since a majority of individuals may not possess adequate health literacy rates
(Plavén-Sigray et al. 2017). Considering this, the usage of simple language coupled with
avoidance of complicated scientific terms is a major strength of this online publication. Further, a
key strength of the article lies in its comprehensiveness. Indeed, the occurrence of food borne
illnesses is a result of a number of multifaceted factors contribute to the occurrence of food borne

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illnesses ranging from agricultural process to commercial processing technologies (Havelaar et
al. 2015). With this respect, the article impressively describes the comprehensiveness of an EA
which comprises of educational, monitoring, microbiological as well as evaluation of existing
strategies (Food and Drug Administration 2019). However, a key limitation lies in the article
focusing extensively on industrial and agricultural processes, which otherwise may be beneficial
for food manufacturing organizations seeking to incorporate FDA quality principles but
otherwise may not be of much for the general public (Food and Drug Administration 2019). This
is because, while educating the public on disease prevention strategies undertaken by the FDA is
necessary, considering the role of household practices underlying food borne illness acquisition,
the article could have focuses upon educating home-based food safety parameters to be followed
(Singh, Walia and Farber 2019). Likewise, the lack of mentioning in the article considering the
timing and frequency of audit conductance is an additional limitation indicating incomplete
information (Oldroyd, Morris and Birkin 2018).

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References
Food and Drug Administration (2019). Environmental Assessments. [online] Fda.gov. Available
at: https://www.fda.gov/food/recallsoutbreaksemergencies/outbreaks/ucm235425.htm [Accessed
15 Apr. 2019].
Havelaar, A.H., Kirk, M.D., Torgerson, P.R., Gibb, H.J., Hald, T., Lake, R.J., Praet, N.,
Bellinger, D.C., De Silva, N.R., Gargouri, N. and Speybroeck, N., 2015. World Health
Organization global estimates and regional comparisons of the burden of foodborne disease in
2010. PLoS medicine, 12(12), p.e1001923.
Oldroyd, R.A., Morris, M.A. and Birkin, M., 2018. Identifying Methods for Monitoring
Foodborne Illness: Review of Existing Public Health Surveillance Techniques. JMIR public
health and surveillance, 4(2), p.e57.
Plavén-Sigray, P., Matheson, G.J., Schiffler, B.C. and Thompson, W.H., 2017. The readability of
scientific texts is decreasing over time. Elife, 6, p.e27725.
Singh, M., Walia, K. and Farber, J.M., 2019. The household kitchen as the ‘last line of
defense’in the prevention of foodborne illness: A review and analysis of meat and seafood
recipes in 30 popular Canadian cookbooks. Food Control, 100, pp.122-129.