42 U.S.C. § 280g–16 — Food Safety Integrated Centers of Excellence

(a) In general: By 1 year after January 4, 2011, the Secretary, through the Director of the CDC and after consulting the working group in subsection (b)(2), must designate 5 Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence, headquartered at selected State health departments, to serve as resources helping federal, State, and local public health professionals respond to foodborne illness outbreaks. (b) Selection of Centers of Excellence: (1) To be eligible for designation, an entity must (A) be a State health department; (B) partner with 1 or more institutions of higher education with demonstrated knowledge, expertise, and experience in regional or national food production, processing, and distribution, and in laboratory, epidemiological, and environmental investigation of foodborne illness; and (C) give the Secretary any information required. (2) By 180 days after January 4, 2011, the Secretary must establish a diverse working group -- from federal, State, and local food safety and health agencies, the food industry (including retailers and manufacturers), consumer organizations, and academia -- to recommend which Centers to designate. (3) The Secretary may also designate additional regional Food Safety Centers of Excellence beyond the first 5. (c) Activities: Under the CDC Director's leadership, each Center, based out of its State health department, must help other regional, State, and local health departments through (1) giving frontline health professionals timely information on symptoms and tests for routine surveillance and outbreak investigations; (2) analyzing how timely and effective surveillance and outbreak response activities are; (3) training people in epidemiological and environmental investigation of foodborne illness, including ways to streamline and standardize the process; (4) creating fellowships, stipends, and scholarships to train future leaders and address workforce shortages; (5) training and coordinating State and local personnel; (6) strengthening the ability to use foodborne illness surveillance and environmental-assessment systems; and (7) doing research and outreach to increase prevention, communication, and education on food safety. (d) Report to Congress: By 2 years after January 4, 2011, the Secretary must report to Congress that (1) describes how effective the Centers have been; and (2) gives legislative recommendations or describes additional resources the Centers need. (e) Authorization of appropriations: Congress may spend whatever sums are necessary. (f) No duplication of effort: In running the Centers or other programs under this section, the Secretary must not duplicate other federal foodborne illness response efforts.