• Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) Directory of State and Local Official (DSLO)
• A helpful web-based tool to search regularly updated contact information for state and some local regulatory officials involved with food, animal feed, animal health, and food defense. 
• Council to Improve Food Outbreak Response (CIFOR) Guidelines, Clearinghouse, and Toolkit 
• Emergency Action Plans for Retail Food Establishments
  • Practical guidance for retail grocery and food service establishments to plan and respond to emergency situations that could impact food safety and facility operations. Situations addressed: Interruption of electrical service, interruption of water service, contaminated water supply (biological), sewage backup, floods, and fire.
  • Michigan Version 
  • Conference for Food Protection Version 
• International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) Procedures To Investigate Foodborne Illness (revised) 
• Michigan Multi-jurisdictional Outbreak Investigation Guidance
  • The Michigan Association of Local Public Health (MALPH) distributed this 2011 guidance document developed by a group of Local, State and Federal representatives in Michigan for public health agencies and regulatory partners to assist in improving multijurisdictional foodborne illness event response within the state. The document extensively used has CIFOR guidelines, while focusing on Michigan needs and public health code requirements.
  • Documentation 
• National Response Framework (NRF)
  • The NRF is a guide to how the Nation responds to all types of disasters and emergencies. It is built on scalable, flexible, and adaptable concepts identified in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) to align key roles and responsibilities across the Nation.
• RRT Best Practices Manual
• Regulatory Program Standards  

• FDA RRT Best Practices Manual 
• FEMA Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101 Version 2.0 November 2010 
• National Association of State Departments of Agriculture Food Emergency Response Template –
• Foodborne Illness and Emergency Response Annex Template for Michigan Local Health Departments
  • A group of local and state officials developed a template annex that local public health agencies can modifying as needed to better link their agency’s all hazards Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) with foodborne illness investigation procedures. The annex outlines a flexible framework and guidance for conducting the key functions of a coordinated emergency response to non-routine foodborne illness outbreaks and food emergencies.  Its focus is on providing the command, control, communication, and execution of the local health department’s emergency response activities during a wide range of food-related incidents.
• Documentation

Acknowledgement: Emergency Preparedness Coordinators from Kent County, Ottawa County, and St. Clair County Departments of Public Health developed the core document with input and review provided by representatives from MDHHS Office of Public Health Preparedness, MDARD and the MI Food Emergency Capacity Development Pilot Project

• MDHHS BETP – Bureau of EMS, Trauma and Preparedness  Guidance

The training resources identified on this website are intended to assist staff from local, state, and federal agencies cost-effectively prepare robust “all hazards” response capabilities to address a wide range of incidents including foodborne outbreaks, report of adulterated imported foods, food/feed recalls and food emergencies created by natural disasters or loss of infrastructure (example: power loss).

They are intended to be used as part of a comprehensive training program consistent with:

• Appropriate program standards, and
• National guidance.

This section identifies food/feed regulatory and multi-disciplinary resources that are available for:

• Web-based training,
• Agency-based in-service training,
• On-the-job training,
• Formal courses,
• Workshops, and
• Exercises. 

Standardized web-based training resources focused on nationally identified competencies currently exist for many aspects of training for newly hired food regulatory staff – See “General Training Websites” below. 

Similarly standardized and nationally recognized “competency-based” resources for more experienced staff are not currently available. Agencies need to regularly reassess their training programs and make changes as needed to ensure staff are competent to perform assigned emergency management tasks.

• FDA ORA U
• The FDA’s ORAU is the primary vehicle through which the FDA Division of Human Resource Development (DHRD) seeks to help meet the training and development needs of the regulatory community at the local, state, and federal levels. It is a combination of face-to-face courses and activities and distance learning that includes web-based training, web conferences, satellite broadcasts, and video conferences. Training is provided free for FDA, state, local & tribal regulators.
• ORAU presently offers over 100 web based courses. Topics include food and drug law, public health principles, communication skills, food microbiology, foodborne illness investigations, traceback investigations, food safety issues in the event of disasters among others.
• Instructions for getting started using ORAU and model training curriculum for regulatory officials involved in various types of activities (examples: retail and manufactured foods). 
• ORA U’s Level 1 web courses are designed to help satisfy the training specified in Standard Number 2, Trained Regulatory Staff from the appropriate regulatory program standards for the “new hire” or “apprentice” level. Typically, most courses can be completed within 60 – 90 minutes.
• Retail Food
• Manufactured Food  
• International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI) Learning Management System (LMS) 
• The IFPTI is improving public health by building competency-based training and certification systems and cultivating leadership for the food protection community worldwide. The LMS provides a convenient means to identify, select, and enroll in courses and to access course records and transcripts. See More HERE.
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Emergency Management Institute (EMI)
  • FEMA provides both web-based and face-to-face courses intended to assist agencies develop all hazards response capacities consistent with the National Response Framework (NRF).
  • Examples of popular web-based ICS courses include ICS 100, 200, 700, and 800
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),  Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence
  • CDC’s five Centers serve as resources for local, state, and federal public health professionals who respond to foodborne illness and outbreaks.  Included in the Centers’ goals are providing technical help and training in epidemiological, laboratory, and environmental investigations, through development and sharing best practices through six main activity areas. 
• Other Training websites – Please let us know of additional resources that you have found useful – Contact Us

• MI-Train: Michigan Food Emergency Response Training (FIRST)  
• The 2 day Foodborne Illness Response Strategy for Michigan (F.I.R.St) course was developed to identify roles, responsibilities and legal requirements for the agencies involved in foodborne outbreak investigations.  It served as the basis for development of the NEHA EpiReady training workshop. This audio and video-based version of the training promotes teamwork and consistency in surveillance and investigation methods by outlining a general approach for Michigan agencies.
• CDC e-Learning on Environmental Assessment of Foodborne Illness Outbreaks
  • This e-Learning course provides training on how to use a systems approach in foodborne illness outbreak environmental assessments. The course can be completed in about 8-10 hours. Participants acquire in-depth skills and knowledge to: 1) Investigate foodborne illness outbreaks as a member of a larger outbreak response team, 2) Identify an outbreak’s environmental causes, and 3) Recommend appropriate control measures.
• Foodborne Outbreak Investigation Tools from The Oregon Health Authority
  • The “Interviewing Cardinal Rules” resources includes 30 and 9 minute videos features many members of the Oregon Public Health Division and a downloadable Training Guide. The videos walk participants through the 10 cardinal rules of effective interviewing. The longer videos explains background and is very helpful for understanding outbreak investigation interviewing. The shorter 9-minute version is useful as a quick introduction to volunteer interviewers, for times when it is important to get on the phones as quickly as possible.
• Other foodborne illness training websites – Please let us know of additional resources that you have found useful – Contact Us

• FDA Division of Human Resource Development (DHRD)
  • FDA DHRD provides a number of number face-to-face courses that complement ORAU on-line courses. Courses must be requested by FDA or state regulatory agencies and are made available as DHRD resources allow based on FDA training needs and priorities.
  • A listing of courses is available HERE.
  • More detailed information on courses focused on emergency response and investigations including course description, objectives, and prerequisites, is found HERE.   
• National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) Epi-Ready Workshop – 2 day face-to-face training – National Environmental Health Association (NEHA)
  • Developed in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Epi-Ready is a two-day in-person workshop for environmental and public health professionals with responsibility for investigation of foodborne illness outbreaks. The workshop content is designed to follow Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) Guidelines. There are two ways to host a workshop, CDC-funded (limited to 3-4 per year throughout the USA) and self-funded. Contact NEHA to determine current availability and costs.
• Other face-to-face courses – Please let us know of additional resources that you have found useful – Contact Us

The Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for Retail Food Establishments is a practical guidance for retail grocery and food service establishments to plan and respond to emergencies that create the potential for an imminent health hazard.  The EAP  was produced by Detroit Department  of Health and Wellness Promotion, Macomb County Health Department, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), Michigan Restaurant Association, and the Oakland County Health Department.  The EAP for Retail Food Establishments is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.  More information can be found on MDARD’s Emergency Management Webiste.

These materials provide a basic overview of environmental assessment investigations and related sampling during foodborne illness outbreak investigations.

These materials cover the basic tasks of traceback investigations while also reviewing basic recall procedures.

These materials focus primarily on basic foodborne illness surveillance and interviewing tasks conducted during multi-disciplinary and multi-agency responses with primary focus on tasks typically conducted by local health department (LHD) staff.

These materials were designed to provide interactive scenario-based training sessions that prepares staff to work more effectively together during multi-agency foodborne illness outbreak investigations. The primary focus is on tasks typically conducted by local health department (LHD) staff in coordination with state and federal response partners. It does not focus on the Incident Command System (ICS).

These materials were designed to provide an interactive scenario-based training sessions that prepare agency responders to work more effectively together during non-routine multi-jurisdictional foodborne illness outbreak investigations. The primary focus is on tasks typically conducted by local health department (LHD) staff in coordination with state and federal response partners including use of Incident Command System (ICS).