PHO Grand Rounds: Estimating the health impact of foodborne illness in Ontario

PHO Grand Rounds: Estimating the health impact of foodborne illness in Ontario

This presentation will cover findings from a recent publication on the burden or health impact of foodborne illness in Ontario.

As part of an effort by the Environmental and Occupational Health team at Public Health Ontario (PHO) to estimate the environmental burden of disease for the province, we gauged the annual number of deaths and contacts with the healthcare system in Ontario due to exposure to pathogens and toxic substances in food.

The estimated burden of foodborne illness was largely due to gastrointestinal illness with an unknown responsible agent. Much of our understanding of enteric disease (for which food is an important transmission route) in Ontario is based on reportable disease surveillance and the identification of a causative pathogen.

This session will provide an overview of the project, present the results of our recent publication and highlight opportunities for improving our understanding of foodborne illness in Ontario, as well as the implications for policy and practice.

Article citation: Drudge C, Greco S, Kim J, Copes R. Estimated annual deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department and physician office visits from foodborne illness in Ontario. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2018 Dec 4 [Epub ahead of print].

Available from: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/fpd.2018.2545

Presenters: Chris Drudge and Ray Copes

Chris Drudge is an Environmental Health Analyst with the Environmental and Occupational Health team at PHO. He has a PhD in environmental microbiology and chemistry from McMaster University and a Master of Public Health in Occupational and Environmental Health from the University of Toronto.

Ray Copes is Chief of the Environmental and Occupational Health team. He obtained his Doctor of Medicine and Master of Science at McGill University and trained in occupational and environmental medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto. Prior to coming to PHO, he was the founding Scientific Director of the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, which is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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