A federal-state partnership that monitors for foodborne illnesses quietly scaled back its operations nearly two months ago.
As of July 1, the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) program has reduced surveillance to just two pathogens: salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NBC News.
Before July, the program had been tracking infections caused by six additional pathogens: campylobacter, cyclospora, listeria, shigella, vibrio and Yersinia. Some of them can lead to severe or life-threatening illnesses, particularly for newborns and people who are pregnant or have weakened immune systems.
Monitoring for the six pathogens is no longer required for the 10 states that participate in the program, though those states aren’t precluded from conducting surveillance on their own.
Food safety experts worry that the move, which hasn’t previously been made public, could make it harder for public health officials to notice whether certain foodborne illnesses are rising and then slow response time to outbreaks.
FoodNet is a collaboration among the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, the Agriculture Department and 10 state health departments. Its surveillance area covers roughly 54 million people, or 16% of the U.S. population. The network includes Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee and select counties in California and New York.