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foodborne diseases so we can be better equiped to prevent them. 

 As we have observed with the re -emergence of tuberculosis and 

 measles, adequate surveillance and other public health efforts 

 are essential to prevent increased incidence of acute disease, 

 increased numbers of persons with resulting chronic disease, and 

 increased costs of disease control. 



To conclude, CDC has an integral role to play, along with 

 FDA, National Marine Fisheries Service, USDA, and state and local 

 authorities, in the collaborative response to food safety issues. 

 Improving food safety and meeting emerging foodborne disease 

 problems in the 21st century will require a comprehensive 

 surveillance program to: 1) rapidly determine populations at 

 highest risk for foodborne infections and severe outcomes, 2) 

 further docioment the important causes of foodborne disease and 

 identify new foodborne disease threats as they develop, and 3) 

 more completely determine which products, processes, and 

 practices lead to foodborne infections. In addition to risk 

 based regulatory programs of other agencies, effective 

 educational programs for producers, processors, preparers, and 

 consumers would be useful. Determining how foods become 

 contaminated, developing rapid and accurate diagnostic tests for 

 foodborne pathogens, and developing control strategies will 

 minimize and prevent contamination of food by disease -producing 

 microorganisms . 



Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the 

 Subcommittee. I will be happy to answer any questions you may 

 have. 



