Using the Foodborne Illness Risk-Ranking Model (FIRRM) to determine which pathogen-food pairs have the greatest public health impact

The Foundation's initiative, Supporting Advocacy to Reduce Tobacco Use and Direct Tobacco-Related State Revenue to Health Priorities, was designed to support state and local advocacy efforts and educate policy-makers and other key audiences in up to 15 states about the need for tobacco control and other public health measures.This project will support the Foodborne Illness Risk Ranking Model (FIRRM), which ranks food-pathogen combinations and can identify the most significant risks--including a "top-10" list of hazards--to the food supply so that policy-makers can adopt preventive interventions. Under this project, the Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) will assemble a workgroup of experts from academia, industry and government to validate FIRRM and explore its application to policy development at the federal and state levels. Specifically, as deliverables, EPI will: (1) hold a two-day convening to evaluate the underlying methodology and assumptions of the model; (2) convene a second two-day meeting of the workgroup to produce an up-to-date, consensus-based national top-10 ranking and examine the rankings' policy implications; (3) build support for the model and rankings among key stakeholders in government and industry; and (4) produce a final report on findings and disseminate it to policy-makers and stakeholders through various communications and outreach strategies.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $147,033.00

Awarded on: 8/19/2009

Time frame: 9/1/2009 - 3/31/2011

Grant Number: 66692