Dr. Vanessa Coffman, director of the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, shares how the organization’s new Food Safety Culture Toolkit can help public health officials strengthen food safety efforts; Dr. Michelle Morse, acting commissioner and chief medical officer for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, explains...
Dr. Vanessa Coffman, director of the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, shares how the organization’s new Food Safety Culture Toolkit can help public health officials strengthen food safety efforts; Dr. Michelle Morse, acting commissioner and chief medical officer for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, explains how their new series, “Living with Long COVID,” is helping to educate New Yorkers about the illness; ASTHO will host a webinar on Thursday, July 24, about effective communication strategies to enhance public health messaging; ASTHO has developed resources to help jurisdictions implement upstream policies that prevent adverse childhood experiences; and next Wednesday, July 23, the second session of the Accelerate series in ASTHO’s Ignite, Accelerate, and Activate virtual workshop will take place to discuss conflict and collaboration.
Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness Web Page: Food Safety Culture Toolkit
New York City Department of Health Web Page: Living with Long COVID - Matt McGorry's story
ASTHO Webinar: Enhancing Public Health Communication: Tools for Engagement & Visibility
ASTHO Web Page: Upstream Policies to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences
ASTHO Workshop: Ignite, Accelerate, and Activate: Series 2, Session 2: Conflict & Collaboration
SUMMER JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, July 21, 2025. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
VANESSA COFFMAN:
Food safety culture refers to a shared values, beliefs, and behaviors within an organization that influence how food safety is managed.
JOHNSON:
That's Dr. Vanessa Coffman with the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness. Their new Food Safety Culture Toolkit can help public health officials improve food safety efforts in their communities.
COFFMAN:
It really has all of these wonderful resources, from the best learnings from some of the best companies in the world on food safety culture and walking people through how they can improve food safety culture, from measuring where they're at, how they want to communicate with their employees, utilizing multimedia resources.
JOHNSON:
Coffman says food safety culture can help with bigger challenges.
COFFMAN:
You know, we've had a really hard time bending the curve on foodborne illness, and I really believe that food safety culture is one of the tools that can help do that, because when food safety businesses value safety as part of their culture, they're more likely to meet or exceed requirements.
JOHNSON:
The toolkit is designed to meet the unique needs of any organization that uses it.
COFFMAN:
You know, food safety culture isn't a one-size-fits-all silver bullet. So, you know, there are a lot of resources on there, and I encourage the listeners to go out there and see what pieces could work well for them, how they could be adapted, how you might want to share those with stores or companies that you're working with.
JOHNSON:
You can check out the Food Safety Culture Toolkit by clicking on the link in the show notes.
The New York City Health Department hopes to increase awareness of Long COVID and has developed a new video education series called "Living with Long COVID." Dr. Michelle Morse is the acting commissioner of the New York City Health Department.
MICHELLE MORSE:
The series is really about videos engaging New Yorkers, helping them understand what Long COVID is, kind of dispelling myths about what it is and what it isn't, and really giving the most evidence-based information as possible.
JOHNSON:
Morse says the series will help to advance health equity in the city.
MORSE:
Most New Yorkers have heard of Long COVID, but those that have, you know, college degrees, and graduated from high school, they're more likely to have heard of Long COVID. That means we still have an education issue, and we want to make sure that more New Yorkers understand and know what Long COVID is.
JOHNSON:
In addition to educating communities, the department is also taking steps to ensure access to care.
MORSE:
Engaging with physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, healthcare organizations, to make sure that they have the information they need as well, and that they're more in-tune with what Long COVID is, how to diagnose patients who might have a constellation of symptoms that are aligned with Long COVID, and then what to do about it.
JOHNSON:
You can head to the link in the show notes to watch the series now.
Coming up next week, ASTHO will host a webinar on Thursday, July 24 on effective communication strategies. Some of the topics will be public health messaging, team collaboration, and media engagement. There's still time to register for the event, just click on the link in the show notes.
In other news, ASTHO is working with state and territorial health agencies to create upstream policies to prevent adverse childhood experiences. Head to the link in the show notes to learn more about ASTHO's strategic toolkit, policy playbook, and more.
And finally, also next week, on Wednesday, July 23 at 2 p.m. Eastern, ASTHO will hold the second session of the Accelerate series in the Ignite, Accelerate, and Activate online workshop. This session will cover conflict and collaboration and how to create win-win solutions. Registration for the event is open now. We have a link in the show notes.
That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Summer Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
Michelle Morse MD MPH
Acting Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene