What is a Foodborne Illness Complaint Form?

A foodborne illness complaint form is a standardized document used by employers, health departments, and environmental health specialists to collect information from individuals such as customers and employees who report experiencing foodborne illness symptoms. This tool is crucial for investigating potential food safety threats and possible foodborne illness outbreaks. and understanding the circumstances surrounding reported illnesses.

Importance

Using a foodborne illness complaint form is essential in recording and addressing foodborne illness outbreaks. It primarily helps contribute to faster and more effective food illness or poisoning investigations, as it helps streamline the implementation of complaint systems and the overall incident reporting process. This also encourages more prompt and efficient follow-ups from all parties involved.

Foodborne illness complaint forms also help in addressing food safety concerns faster. In the US specifically, using a templated complaint form has helped health officials and safety workers determine the causes of different food safety-related outbreaks quicker, as it organizes all important information into easily digestible sections for analysis.

The introduction of web-based complaint forms have further improved this, helping officials address foodborne illnesses better and in a more timely manner. This prompted the investigation process to start right as the complaint was received, ensuring quicker turnaround times and results. The data collected from foodborne illness complaint forms can also be used by public health officials, employers, and safety managers in creating and improving food safety, storage, and handling policies and regulations to mitigate future risks.

What to Include in a Foodborne Illness Complaint Form

To ensure your foodborne illness complaint form can accurately and efficiently capture the necessary information for the investigation, it must have fields for the following:

• Date form is filled out
• Personal details of affected individual, such as the following:
  • Name
  • Address
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Contact number
  • Email
• Classification of the affected individual, if they are an employee of the organization or a customer
• Date the affected individual consumed their meal
• Onset of foodborne illness symptoms
• Symptoms experienced
• Current health status of affected individual
• Checklist for additional details such as the following:
  • Has the affected individual been out of town or country in the last few days?
  • Has the affected individual consulted a doctor for their symptoms?
  • Have the affected individual’s symptoms persisted for more than 24 or 48 hours?
  • Has the affected individual consumed other food in the last 24, 48, and 72 hours?
  • Has the complaint been shared or escalated to other establishments or legal bodies?
  • Is anyone in the affected individual’s immediate household also experiencing symptoms?
  • Have the suspected food items been tested?
• Additional comments and suggestions
• Further actions to take
• Name and signature of affected individual