Loss of FoodNet Surveillance = Loss of Critical Early Warning

By Dr. Ben Miller

In food safety, we often cite CDC’s estimate that 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illness annually. These figures depend on FoodNet, CDC’s active, population-based surveillance program that underpins our national burden estimates. As of July 1, 2025, CDC narrowed the FoodNet required monitoring from eight pathogens to just two: Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), making surveillance optional for pathogens including Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter, Cyclospora, Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia.

For those unfamiliar with epidemiology, active surveillance represents our most powerful tool for early detection. Unlike passive systems that wait for reports, active surveillance means public health teams proactively reach out to clinical laboratories, confirm cases, collect detailed information, and ensure data completeness and timeliness. Think of it like weather radar scanning continuously across the horizon and when coverage narrows from monitoring eight storm types to just two, we lose critical early warning capabilities. This reduction threatens our ability to spot emerging clusters before they explode into multi-state outbreaks that implicate entire product categories and damage industry reputations. It also weakens source attribution and compromises the reliability of national illness estimates, leaving us with less information as to where illnesses originate and their true public health impact.

Food companies investing in prevention should recognize that surveillance erosion affects everyone in the supply chain. When our scientific foundation weakens, risk assessment becomes cloudier, consumer confidence erodes, and the path to rapid, precise outbreak response becomes harder to navigate. Recent listeriosis outbreaks underscore what we may stand to lose when pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes fall outside active surveillance systems.

A couple other articles on the FoodNet cuts in which you may be interested are the CIDRAP article by Dr. Craig Hedberg who describes FoodNet as “the foundation of our food safety system,” and this week’s food safety article from TAG on “FoodNet Surveillance: The Difference a Few Pathogens Can Make.”

COVID Risk Matrix (data from CDC & WHO):

Influenza Matrix (data from WHO):

Public Health News:

• While New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, is typically found in The Caribbean and South America, a human case has been identified in the US in a traveler who just returned from El Salvador. The CDC has published basic information here regarding this illness.
• The CDC has officially published recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on influenza vaccination for the 2025-2026 season.  Routine annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all persons aged ≥6 months without a contraindication to vaccination to protect against influenza and its complications.
• The Legionella outbreak in Harlem has been declared over. There were 114 cases, 90 hospitalizations and 7 deaths. The sources were identified as Harlem hospital and a nearby construction site. Mitigation measures including disinfection have been implemented and verified to be effective.
• Cases of dengue are on the rise in the Philippines where more than 15,000 cases have been reported in the last two weeks of July. The majority of cases are in young people aged <21 years due to greater exposure and lower immunity.   Cases are also up 3-fold in Vietnam where more than 25,000 cases were reported through mid-August. More intense rain events due to tropical storms are more prevalent this year; these can lead to increased mosquito populations that carry the Dengue virus. 
• An outbreak of legionnaires disease in London, Ontario has been ongoing for a few months. The outbreak has involved four deaths and nearly 90 hospitalizations to date. About a month ago, the outbreak was declared to be over, but an additional 25 cases were just reported. A likely source of the outbreak  has been identified as a cooling tower at Sofina Foods. It should be noted that food products from Sofina are not at all implicated in this outbreak, as Legionella is a water borne organism.
• A recent research paper released by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Colorado School of Public Health, and Washington State Department of Health, identified that CDC directed funding improves foodborne outbreak reporting in the US based on data from 2009-2022.