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File: aaacf_41.txt
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reinspected and disapproved by the US Army. Units should have reported these Army food 
establishment inspection problems to CENTAF for resolution. Locally listed establishments 
approved by EH personnel did not require Army Veterinary Service inspection.

	5. Site Selection: Additional efforts need to be exerted to ensure medical concerns 
are considered in site selection. One ATH, located beside water storage tanks, was 
evacuated on at least two occasions because of a chlorine leak. Another ATH, in a flood 
zone, flooded. It is understood that security or other concerns may override medical 
recommendations.

	6. Food Safety: Foodborne illness was the most significant public health problem for 
deployed air force personnel. Most foodborne illness outbreaks would have been avoided if 
the USAF had its own deployable food service. TAC/SG should work with TAC/DE to make this 
happen. EH should inspect food and food service facilities during OREs and ORIs. This 
would provide necessary training for EH and demonstrate their mission to supervisors and 
commanders. It will also demonstrate the need for a government vehicle. Inadequate 
transportation was a common problem for EH and BEE. In some cases foodborne illness 
outbreaks were not followed by good reports. CENTAF/SGPM should have requested more 
complete reports when incomplete information was received. Some facilities didn't use 
ratings or route reports through the chain of command as they should have. Procedures that 
worked during peacetime and on previous deployments should not have been abandoned. 
Foodhandler training would have been difficult, but EH should have exerted more effort to 
train foodhandlers.

	7. Disease Reporting and Epidemiology: A very good disease reporting system was 
established after the deployment began, although not without difficulty. At least two 
changes were made to the reporting system during the deployment. It would be better to 
have the reporting system ready for use before a deployment. Lt Col Weiland will draft 
minor changes to this system to eliminate grouping conditions into a single category and 
reduce the number of non-communicable diseases reported. It was proposed that this program 
be presented to the preventive medicine officer of CENTCOM, SOCOM, and others as the 
system for future conflicts. It was difficult to investigate foodborne illness outbreaks 
without menus from food service facilities. An attempt should be made to require food 
service facilities to maintain menus.

	8. Communicable Disease Issues: Services provided by the ATH laboratory were too 
limited. The laboratory needs a microbiology incubator and appropriate media to identify 
fecal pathogens such as Shigella, Salmonella, and Campylobacter. The laboratory also needs 
to be able to do fecals for ova and parasites. They need a micrometer for their microscope 
to be able to measure the size of ova and parasites. The high level of respiratory disease 
was expected and no recommendations were




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