Foodborne Illnesses Public Health Project

Causes of foodborne illnesses include disruption of the distribution of food products and the overall vulnerability of supply chains in the food industry. The implementation of the project will seek to reduce the prevalence rates of food-borne illnesses. The health department will need to implement various project strategies in a proactive manner, including scheduling food safety prevention programs, placing food safety requirements in compliance with operational protocols, and disseminating information on food safety practices in society. The short-term impact of food safety programs will include an increase in awareness about food-borne illnesses and an understanding of the advantages of programs.1 It is also relevant to promote monitoring of the food safety programs in an effective way. The project implementation phase will include hiring and training of food safety team, preparation of design process flow diagrams, hazard analysis, monitoring systems, training of the monitoring personnel, organization of facilities and equipment, verification of project implementation, and conduct of monitoring and regulations review.2 Therefore, the project management plan is keen on explaining the nature of food-borne illnesses and various project tasks and approaches in order to enhance food safety programs.

Project Background and Context

Over recent years, the number of foodborne illnesses in Australia has been alarming. The risk of getting foodborne illnesses remains high. The project will evaluate relevant healthcare interventions and activities to be used in reducing the risk of foodborne illnesses in Australia. For example, in Melbourne city, the prevalence of food-borne illnesses remains and it has doubled due to salmonella poisoning. Some of the key causes of food-borne illnesses in Australia are the vulnerability of supply chains and the complexity of food distribution mechanisms. The use of food trucks has contributed to an increase in the level of foodborne illnesses as most food trucks do not meet relevant health standards.

Foodborne illnesses constitute a serious public health issue in Australia. The public health project will require the input of the National Public Health officials in Australia to protect and enhance the health of affected persons. The context of the project is to identify food-borne illnesses, as well as design and proper implementation of health interventions in Australia. The core focus of public health agencies is to improve health in a sustainable way while effectively integrating relevant public health services. Therefore, the management of the public health project is necessary and it will help with proper management of food-borne illnesses.

Project Plan and Logic

The Australian Health Department is keen on developing evidence-based programs and ensuring ongoing evaluation of the existing programs. The project plan and logic will be created to support the health staff in the creation of program logic to improve food safety programs. The logic will be critical in the design of the population health planning, its implementation, and project evaluation. The program logic model usually supports the integrated approach to promote program planning, implementation, and evaluation.7 The logic framework will evaluate the programs through the identification of project areas where the project evaluation will inform relevant development of meaningful evaluation aspects. The program logic is a useful approach for engaging stakeholders in planning and evaluation and proper communication with stakeholder audiences on the program concepts.

The goal of the program is to reduce the prevalence of foodborne illnesses among populations in Australia. The health department will be able to reduce the alarming rate of foodborne illnesses in Australia. To achieve this goal, it will be critical to improve the food safety prevention programs, as well as expand the food regulations. For example, updating the food safety regulations is effective and relevant in order to reduce the prevalence rates of foodborne illnesses.

The key inputs of the project include updating food safety programs, funding foodborne disease prevention programs, and partnering with food distributors. The updating of the food safety programs will seek to ensure that the quality of food items is maintained. The three inputs will be critical in promoting the nature of food safety in the hospitality industry. Thus, the key inputs of the project consist in assisting with effectively improving the level of food-borne prevention.

Most importantly, the project activities that will process the inputs include the creation and distribution of information through social media, development of operational protocols, holding of regular meetings with food distributors, purchase of food safety tools and equipment, as well as the hiring of food safety experts. The project outputs that are useful in reducing foodborne illnesses include persons who disseminate information on food safety practices, food requirements supported by the food distributors, scheduling of food safety prevention, food safety requirements installed among all food distributors in accordance with operational controls, and conduct of quality assurance audits.

The outputs and activities of the project will have both short-term and intermediate impacts on project objectives and goals. The project will be able to increase overall awareness of food-borne illnesses in Australia and the advantages of the prevention programs. It is because the public and food distributors would get more information on how to deal with food safety problems. The project would increase the level of food safety prevention programs among food distributors and consumers. It would also increase the monitoring and evaluation of food safety effectively. Following the design of the project logic model, the outcome is to reduce the prevalence of foodborne illnesses and improve the health of society.

Fig.2: Project Logic

The food safety prevention project is keen on reducing the prevalence of foodborne illnesses in Australia. The three main objectives are to improve food safety programs by 50% in the next 12 months, increase funding for foodborne disease prevention programs by 100% in 6 months, and expand the partnership with food distributors by 50% in the next 12 months. To improve food safety programs, the strategy to be implemented includes the purchase of food safety tools and equipment for food producers, the creation and dissemination of information using social media, and updating of the food safety requirements. The increase of funding for foodborne diseases prevention programs includes the development of operational protocols, hiring of food safety experts, and obtaining of financing from the private sector through grants. To improve partnerships with key food distributors, the project team will conduct regular meetings with food distributors, attend regular conferences and forums with private food distributors, and work with food distributors to review the food safety requirements and guidelines.

Project Stakeholder Analysis

Various stakeholders involved in the project include the food distributors union, the Victoria Department of Health, food safety advocacy groups, the government, and consumers. As indicated in the table below, the food distributors union is critical in maintaining a safe food environment and identifying relevant programs to implement and improve food safety. Victoria Department of Health will assist in creating and enforcing the food safety regulations and requirements, as well as supporting reform efforts to expand the food safety requirements and guidelines. Food safety advocacy groups will help in engaging with various stakeholders to improve food safety. It will also work on maximizing the quality of foods for consumers.

The government is a key entity in the efforts to implement the project activities and strategies. The government is involved in the passage of relevant laws and regulations that control food safety requirements and works with various stakeholders to regulate the food industry. Consumers would give feedback on the quality and safety of the food products. Regular feedback from consumers through surveys will inform the food distributors of the need to improve food safety. Each stakeholder will have either a direct or indirect impact on the efforts to improve public health in Australia by reducing the prevalence of foodborne illnesses.

Fig.3: Stakeholder Analysis

Based on the stakeholder analysis, all the stakeholders are expected to work together to improve the effective implementation of the project. For example, the government will collaborate with the food distributors union and respond to any complaints from consumers to achieve the objective of reducing the risks of foodborne illnesses. Documentation of the role and impacts of all stakeholders is relevant in improving food safety improvement and outcomes.

Budget and Resourcing

The project budget and resourcing are important in ensuring that the project team has adequate financial and non-financial resources to implement the public health project. The public health project on reducing the prevalence of foodborne illnesses will require significant funding from both the government and private organizations. The funding will help in implementing the food safety project effectively.

Fig.4: Budget

The overall project budget is $ 1,232,100. The food safety improvement and reduction of foodborne diseases will be implemented through two phases. During both phases, both financial and non-financial resources will be used to ensure proper implementation of the food safety program. In phase 1, the project tasks include dissemination of information through social media networks at the cost of $25,700, development of operational protocols at $30,500, analysis of the customer survey feedback and records at $176,200, while weekly updates will cost $80,500 and drafting and expanding of reports on food safety will cost $410,700.

The second phase will entail various tasks, including the change of food safety requirements at $75,800, training expenses at $80,400, monitoring of compliance at $75,300, the conduct of project management at $200,500, and contingency costs at $76,500. The contingency expenditures are critical and cover potential uncertainties that could emerge during the project implementation process. The project team will need to gather additional resources from the health department, including the hiring of additional health experts who will assist with improving food safety effectively. Thus, the implementation of a food safety program will be able to promote a reduction in volume of the foodborne illness conditions.

Implementation and Evaluation Plan

Implementation of the project to reduce the foodborne illnesses in Australia includes identification and training of the food safety team, preparation process, process flow diagrams, conducting hazard analysis, setting up of monitoring systems, training of the monitoring personnel, training of the operatives, set-up of facilities and equipment, the conduct of audit to verify the project implementation, and the start of regular monitoring and regulations review. The hiring and training of food safety experts are important and will take a substantial time to do that effectively. Planning and preparation seek to ensure that project goals are identified well to enhance project performance. The design of process flow diagrams is necessary for shaping project activities and strategies effectively. The flow diagrams show various steps and aspects that should be performed in the entire project to achieve positive food safety outcomes.

Hazard analysis will review potential risks that could cause losses and ensure food safety in society. Setting up of relevant monitoring systems is relevant. The monitoring systems involve checking the ability of the project team to improve food safety by implementing proposed strategies. In addition, the set-up of critical equipment and facilities would help to improve food safety effectively. The equipment and facilities include training facilities for the food safety team and health care experts. Performing comprehensive audits to verify the implementation of the key tasks is also important. The audit process will ascertain that the project implements all proposed project tasks effectively, thus improving overall food safety. The last task is to conduct regular monitoring and review of the food safety regulations. Continuous monitoring will assist in improving the food safety guidelines and requirements.

Evaluation Plan

Evaluation of the project tasks and activities will be done on a regular basis. The key evaluation metric includes tracking of data for upgrading project data obtained through customer release forms and project tracking data. The tracking of data allows for specific upgrades of projects to assist in improving food safety in an effective way. The use of customer surveys in the form of the customer release form will provide utility data to assist in improving food safety outcomes. The continuous collection of data will make it possible to review data and customer surveys to achieve program objectives.

The tracking of the project data will be able to determine the achievement of the project outcomes and tasks. Prevalence rates of foodborne illnesses will be compared over the next few months to determine whether the implementation of the project has been able to improve the situation. The recording of the data will make it possible to understand the input and outcomes related to the efforts aimed at decreasing the foodborne illness rate. Conduct of post-interviews and documentation of the outcome process would assist in understanding subsequent outcomes. Relevant interviews and documentation of the intervention programs will be able to assess the program aimed at improving food safety in Australia.

Conclusion

In summary, foodborne illnesses pose a public health problem in Australia and proper measures should be implemented to reduce food-borne illnesses. Reduction in the prevalence rate of foodborne illnesses will help in improving the overall health of Australia. The government’s health department will work to implement the project strategies and tasks through the scheduling of food safety protection measures, the introduction of stricter food safety requirements in line with the key operational protocols, and the creation of awareness about the importance of food safety practices and programs. Budgetary allocations and resources required amount to $1,232,100 in total and will be provided to help the project team in implementing their key project goal and objectives. All phases of the project will be implemented effectively in a proactive manner. From the program logic model, the impact of the project is to increase awareness about food-borne illnesses and understand the input of the food safety programs and monitoring of the food safety programs. Continuous monitoring of food safety initiatives is critical in improving long-term food safety efforts in society. The actual implementation of the food safety improvement actions will involve first choosing a quality food safety team of professionals, planning, organizing the process flow diagrams, designing hazard analysis, setting up the monitoring system, training monitoring employees, structuring facilities and equipment, verifying the implementation process of the projects, and performing comprehensive monitoring of the regulations.