The Food Protection Task Forces, supported by the Division of Federal/State Relations at FDA, convene stakeholders in food safety. These stakeholders form Taskforces that consist of government, industry, academia, and consumer groups that create an effective state-wide infrastructure for outreach, response, and information sharing. Currently, there are 28 state Taskforces.

Datastream created a website ecosystem allowing one web infrastructure to manage all 28 websites simply and effectively.  Each task force controls their individual website, with results of the efforts sharing across all other sites and aggregating into one unified view of task force activity.

We have also implemented private, branded CoreSHIELD mini-portals for each task force and created a simple, end-user manageable mobile app infrastructure allowing each task force to manage and deploy their own iOS and Android mobile apps.

Over the upcoming year, we will continue supporting the strategic growth of the web ecosystem, as well as social media and mobile platforms.   The partnership between DSCXN and DFSR has been great, and the results are impacting food safety in the country!

PETNet is a secure reporting/notification system, accessible by state and federal government officials with regulatory authority and responsibility over pet food. PETNet allows the exchange of information about pet-food related incidents, such as illness associated with the consumption of adulterated pet food or pet food product defects, between FDA, the States, and other Federal Government agencies charged with protecting animal and public health.

PETNet has elected to renew development with Datastream Connexion and the National Center for Food Protection and Defense.   By leveraging our CoreSHIELD and FormX platforms, we are able to provide innovative reporting and data capture capabilities for the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA.

When a large-scale animal-disease outbreak occurs, tracking its progress and performing diagnostic tests on thousands of diagnostic samples is a big challenge. To get the job done, it is very important that all the parties involved-Federal agencies and laboratories managed by State governments and universities-communicate and collaborate effectively. The National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) now forms part of a nationwide strategy to coordinate the work of all organizations providing animal disease surveillance and testing services.

NAHLN has elected to continue growing its network on the CoreSHIELD and LabDIR technology platform developed by Datastream Connexion and the National Center for Food Protection and Defense.  The Network has been a terrific partner expanding capabilities within the system by providing the technical leadership team at DSCXN critical insight and direction.  Over the next year we will be implementing innovative features to expand NAHLN's monitoring and response capabilities.

Datastream Connexion has been an integral development partner with FERN since 2006.   FERN has renewed efforts for the upcoming year to expand its information technology infrastructure.

The Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) integrates the nation's food-testing laboratories at the local, state, and federal levels into a network that is able to respond to emergencies involving biological, chemical, or radiological contamination of food. The FERN structure is organized to ensure federal and state inter-agency participation and cooperation in the formation, development, and operation of the network. 

We are proud to have pioneered this effort with the FERN leadership and look forward to a successful year.

In coordination with the National Center for Food Protection and Defense at the University of Minnesota, Datastream Connexion is pleased to announce version 2 of the web infrastructure for University Programs at the Department of Homeland Security.

Built to allow many editors from multiple Homeland Security Center of Excellence update and contribute to their contact areas, the website offers the latest news and activities from these Centers from around the country.

Behind the scenes, the CoreSHIELD portal infrastructure and technology service was implemented to the recent 7.10 release to offer the latest in features to both University Programs and the Centers of Excellence.   Exceeding the standards already set nationally by CoreSHIELD in the areas of collaboration, the UP Portal now offers custom branding to insure each Center has a feature-rich collaboration environment that looks and feels like a natural extension of their existing technology.

More information about University Programs can be found here, and you can visit the public site by clicking here!

CoreSHIELD's public FAQ interface has been launched at http://www.coreshield.org.  CoreSHIELD is a flagship project focused on critical collaboration amongst our nation's critical infrastructures. For the first time, we put a face to the infrastructure with a simple site. We like it, and so we thought we would share. If you are in need of collaboration solutions for your industry groups/companies that really innovate and actually demonstrate return on investment, talk to us.

The National Center for Food Protection and Defense has released a new brochure highlighting our work in creating the CoreSHIELD platform to help secure the food & agriculture sector in America.

View it here.

A story from the LA Times on a project we developed called PETNet. http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-pet-food-regulation-20110806,0,5999564.story

"Something good has come out of the dreadful 2007 melamine pet food recall: The Pet Event Tracking Network was launched this week to allow the Food and Drug Administration and federal and state agencies to share information in real time about pet food-related incidents such as food-borne illnesses and defective pet products."

Read more at the LA Times.

The National Animal Health Laboratory Network's new portal, based on CoreSHIELD technology, has been deployed and put into use by network labs and administrators.

Immediately delivering secure collaboration to the network, the portal is the first marker on a path to transform how NAHLN leverages web technologies to service their network.  Building on this portal will include centralized LabDIR, interactive SOP Guides, Proficiency Test Management, e-Learning, and other tools to  bring visibility to their network lab's capabilities and capacities which is critical for planning and in time of emergency response.