Lessons learned - FDA communications

As you may have observed if you are regular reader of Fresh Talk, I have been in the process of transcribing the WPPC-FDA meeting of Sept. 11. As I was doing so the other day, I observed FDA officials spoke of ongoing "lessons learned" relating to communications issues. I followed up with Sebastian Cianci, spokesman for FDA, about where the "lessons learned" process is. He replied by email:

FDA is still in the process of conducting a "lessons leaned" evaluation of our communications efforts during the Salmonella St. Paul outbreak. We are looking at a range of communication issues including: internal communication, communication with other government agencies, communication with members of industry and other stakeholders, and communication targeted toward media and the consumers.

TK: Not much to report at this point. I will be interested to see what the verdict is on communication of the exclusionary list of production areas - those regions free of implicated product in an outbreak investigation. My suggestion is that such an exclusionary list - while seemingly helpful to the trade - muddies the message to consumers and is too cumbersome for the media to handle well. Better to tell us where the implicated product is from, I believe, and the sooner the better.