# Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) - Practice based research to improve food safety

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · MINNESOTA STATE DEPT OF HEALTH · 2021 · $192,587

## Abstract

EHS-Net Food Safety Project Summary/Abstract
The long-term objective of the proposed work is to reduce foodborne illness associated
with commercial food establishments in Minnesota and the entire U.S. Specific aims are
to: 1) increase and improve environmental assessments conducted during foodborne
illness outbreak investigations; 2) identify contributing factors and antecedents factors
associated with foodborne illness outbreaks; 3) identify and understand environmental
factors associated with sporadic foodborne illness through special studies; 4) evaluate
food safety programs in Minnesota; 5) synthesize and disseminate the findings from
EHS-Net research projects to the environmental health community and the food service
industry; and, 6) develop, implement, and evaluate interventions at commercial food
establishments that will reduce the incidence of foodborne illness.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has been a leader and active participant in
EHS-Net since its inception and proposes to continue EHS-Net involvement in the same
fashion going forward. Environmental health specialists from the MDH Division of
Environmental Health and epidemiologists from the MDH Foodborne, Waterborne,
Vectorborne, and Zoonotic Diseases Section will continue to comprise the MDH EHS-
Net team and will work closely together to conduct EHS-Net activities. Active
population-based surveillance for reportable bacterial and protozoal pathogens will be
conducted, along with state-of the art outbreak detection and investigation.
Environmental assessments will be conducted on all foodborne outbreaks in
commercial food establishments in Minnesota using standard tools to allow collection of
high quality data for the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System
[NEARS]. Special studies to identify practices, behaviors, or other risk factors that lead
to sporadic foodborne illness will be conducted at random samples of restaurants in
previously selected sampling frameworks. Another proposed project is to survey
operators to better understand how to effectively implement and evaluate interventions
at commercial food establishments. Additionally, we have proposed research looking at
inspection reports preceding outbreak restaurants to determine if there are any trends in
the violations that are observed.
MDH will continue to build communication and collaborations with EHS-Net partners
(other states, CDC, FDA, and EPA) and will actively participate in multi-site studies
decided on by the EHS-Net Steering Committee. Education of environmental health
specialists and industry groups throughout Minnesota, based on lessons learned from
EHS-Net, will continue to be actively pursued.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10259652
- **Project number:** 5U01EH001359-02
- **Recipient organization:** MINNESOTA STATE DEPT OF HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Kirk Smith
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $192,587
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2025-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10259652

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10259652, Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) - Practice based research to improve food safety (5U01EH001359-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10259652. Licensed CC0.

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