NEARS Background

Foodborne illness is a significant problem in the United States, but addressing environmental causes can help prevent it.

Addressing Environmental Causes through Environmental Assessments

Foodborne illness outbreaks reported to CDC often include little or no information on the environmental causes of foodborne illness outbreaks. NEARS serves as a companion surveillance system to CDC’s National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) for reporting of environmental assessments. NEARS captures environmental causes and provides the information needed to recommend effective short and long-term interventions to stop ongoing foodborne outbreaks and prevent them in the future.

Timeline

2000-2008

State, federal, and industry representatives participating in the Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) develop the basis for a national surveillance system for environmental causes of foodborne illness outbreaks.

2008

CDC requests feedback on the concept from the Conference for Food Protection (CFP), a group representing stakeholders with a role or interest in food safety at the retail level. A CFP committee reviews the issue to determine CFP’s role in national implementation.

2010

CFP urges that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amend the National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards to recommend that all food safety programs participate in National Voluntary Environmental Assessment Information System (NVEAIS).

2011

FDA amends Standard 5, [PDF – 114 KB] Foodborne Illness and Food Defense Preparedness and Response.

2014

CDC launches NVEAIS and accompanying e-Learning on Environmental Assessment of Foodborne Illness Outbreaks.

2015

CDC changes NVEAIS to NEARS (National Environmental Assessment Reporting System).

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