FDA report shows investigative teams reviewed 69 incidents in 2025

The Food and Drug Administration has just published its 2025 report on the activities of the Coordinated Outbreak Response, Evaluation, & Emergency Preparedness teams.

The FDA’s CORE+EP was originally established in 2011 as the CORE Network and was expanded in October 2024 to include an emergency preparedness team focused on food defense, traceability, and supply chain monitoring activities.

The 2025 report shows the teams, referred to as CORE+EP, evaluated 69 incidents, initiated 26 responses and issued 11 advisories. The report did not discuss the high of incidents in 2013, which was 137, compared to the relatively low number in 2025.

Incidents evaluated include potential outbreaks, confirmed outbreaks, and certain adverse events that were analyzed by the CORE Signals and Surveillance (Signals) Team. Not all incidents evaluated by Signals are transferred to one of four CORE Response Teams for follow up.

Responses are initiated when an outbreak appears to be caused by an FDA-regulated food. Information related to the incident is transferred to a Response Team to coordinate FDA’s response efforts.

Public health advisories are issued to provide consumers with actionable advice to stay safe when an FDA-regulated food is linked to an outbreak.

One of CORE+EP’s missions is to find, stop, and aid in the prevention of foodborne illness outbreaks. According to the 2025 report, this is accomplished through disease surveillance, outbreak response, post-response activities, and collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local public health agencies, and international public health partners. 

In 2025, the CORE+EP teams managed several high-profile investigations, including an outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to cucumbers, an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to prepared meals, and an outbreak of infant botulism linked to powdered infant formula.

In a footnote, FDA lists responses where a product was linked to illnesses but no advisory was issued: mangoes, cilantro, parsley, spring mix, and sprouts. FDA says this “is typically due to a lack of sufficient information about what is causing illnesses during the time of ongoing public health risk,” and that confirmed vehicles are reported on the CORE Investigation Table.

“The work conducted by CORE during and following investigations of foodborne illness outbreaks and certain adverse events culminate in actions that can drive the prevention of additional illnesses and future outbreaks,” according to the report.

“When investigators find the food source of a multistate foodborne illness outbreak, FDA can take public health actions, such as issuing a public health advisory or recommending that companies voluntarily recall products confirmed to be associated with an outbreak, which are powerful steps to protect public health. In some cases, FDA’s Office of Compliance & Enforcement can pursue additional compliance actions to further protect consumers from unsafe food, such as issuance of warning letters, seizure, injunction, and addition of firms to import alerts.”

^{*Note: Some investigations listed in this table may have been initiated in 2024, but an advisory was not issued until 2025. This is not an exhaustive list of all FDA activities related to these incidents and additional activities may be ongoing.}