A vector-borne contamination model to assess food-borne outbreak intervention strategies

Abstract Food-borne illness occurs through the consumption of food that has been tainted at some point in the food supply chain. While most contamination is accidental, there is some evidence of intentional food adulteration. This study explores the relationship between food safety practices and consumer behavior in a two-stage food supply chain. We use a vector-borne model to represent the spread of contaminated food through the supply chain. Based on our computational study,we determine the number of consumers that become ill as a result of a contamination event, describe the effect of consumer consumption and purchase behavior on the spread of food-borne illness, and evaluate the effects of various intervention strategies on consumer illness.