Improving and Advancing Communications Around “Foodborne Illness Source Attribution” Dana Pitts, MPH Associate Director of Communications Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Centers for Disease Control and Prevention January 31, 2012

“The main problem with communication is the assumption that it has occurred” – George Bernard Shaw

Improving and Advancing Communications Overview  Merging science and communications  Making it relevant and “action-able”  Developing a plan  Communicating complexity  The potential

Merging Science and Communications ScienceCommunications

Merging Science and Communications

Making it Relevant To prevent illness and death by gathering and analyzing information to create collective knowledge and stop food problems before they happen

A Real Story of Relevance Every discovery during an investigation of foodborne illnesses informs prevention

 Internal Communications  Aligned thinking  Consistent terminology  Shared processes (common projects)  Project management  External Communications  Messages, products, audience testing, media, progress, hot issues ; strong risk communication principles  Leverage visibility of food safety issues to advance understanding of foodborne illness source attribution, when relevant  Partnership Communications  Respond to stakeholder requests for information, meetings  Advance scientific literacy, education, and exchange about relevance of assigning risk to food Developing a Plan

 Public “metrics” meetings (Industry, academia, and consumers)  2010, 3 states, ~ 600 participants  FSMA Surveillance Working Group feedback  Expert review of early draft strategic plan  FDA Risk Communication meeting  Review by renowned experts in risk communications  “…an opportunity to apply an evidence-based approach to communicating risks and benefits. “(Fischoff, 2011)  Connection to body of ongoing work  Awareness of, and informal engagement with, “source attribution” community Expert Input

2010 Public Meetings: Measuring Progress on Food Safety 2010 Public Meetings: Measuring Progress on Food Safety ~600 participants total *(Federal, state, local government represented) “Government” includes federal, state, and local, distributed approximately evenly unless noted. Numbers estimated manually; minor error might occur in counting. Chicago, IL participants (7/21) Washington, DC participants (3/30) Portland, OR participants (10/20)

Making something simple is very difficult — Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter

FoodSafety.gov

Communicating Complexity January 2011: New Estimates First new estimates of foodborne illness in a decade  2 Scientific publications  Major pathogens  Unspecified agents  1 online table  6 online appendices  Editorial  Complex  Timed during FSMA

June 2011 : Annual Trends FoodNet “report card”  Tracks trends  Tri-agency program and publication  15 years  Tracks 9 pathogens  State authors  Many messages  Released during Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O104 outbreak

July: Food Safe Families Ad Campaign Ad Council, released 6/30/11

August: 2011 FDA Risk Communication Advisory Committee Meeting: Communicating about attribution of foodborne illness

August 2011-present  October:  2011 National Food Policy Conference  November:  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts  Food Safety Modernization Act Surveillance Working Group  December:  President Food Safety Working Group Progress Report  January:  Foodborne Illness Source Attribution Public Meeting  February:  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts  Interagency Risk Assessment Consortium (IRAC) and Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC) meeting  Beyond….

Lessons Learned  Learn by listening  Examine data in different ways  Good science and good communication go hand-in-hand  It takes time and a strong team to pull this together  Communicating data is an ongoing activity  Be strategic  Work with partners in releasing data  Can’t afford not to communicate well

The Potential

Thank You For more information please contact Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA Telephone: CDC-INFO ( )/TTY: Web: The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases