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FMI Works With Council to Devise H1N1 Response

The Food Marketing Institute as a member of the Food and Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council is focused on developing recommendations for dealing with the H1N1 swine flu virus expected to arrive during the coming flu season with the potential of greater force.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Food Marketing Institute here, as a member of the Food and Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council, is focused on developing recommendations for dealing with the H1N1 swine flu virus expected to arrive during the coming flu season with the potential of greater force.

The council is developing a set of food industry-specific question-and-answer information to be distributed through government agency and association web sites, Jill Hollingsworth, FMI's group vice president, Food Safety Programs, told SN.

The group is discussing various emergency response scenarios that retailers can follow depending upon how the flu season plays out this year. Those scenarios involve protecting the health of food sector employees as well as the public, Hollingsworth said.

"The best thing is to be prepared for the worst-case event which we are doing now," she said.

Most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control list 43,771 laboratory cases of the new H1N1 virus confirmed and 302 deaths in the United States. National Influenza Vaccination week is Dec. 6-12.

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