Vessel Sanitation Program: 2025 Environmental Public Health Standards

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Center for Environmental Health (U.S.). Vessel Sanitation Program
• Description:
  Foreword: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) in the 1970s as a cooperative activity with the cruise ship industry. The program assists the cruise industry in fulfilling its responsibility for developing and implementing comprehensive performance-based systems to protect the health of the traveling public. Every vessel that has an international voyage with a stop at a U.S. port and carries 13 or more passengers is subject to twice-yearly unannounced inspections and, when necessary, reinspection. VSP operated continuously at all major U.S. ports from the early 1970s through 1986, when CDC terminated portions of the program. Industry and public pressures resulted in Congress directing CDC through specific language included in CDC appropriations to resume the program. CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) became responsible for VSP in 1986. NCEH held a series of public meetings to determine the needs and desires of the public and cruise industry and on March 1, 1987, a restructured program began. In 1988, the program was further modified by introducing user fees to reimburse the U.S. government for costs. A fee based on the vessel’s size is charged for inspections and reinspections. A VSP Operations Manual based on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 1976 model code for food service and the World Health Organization’s Guide to Ship Sanitation was published in 1989 to assist the cruise industry in educating shipboard personnel.
  
  For previous manuals, VSP solicited comments from and conducted public meetings with representatives of the cruise industry, the public, FDA, and the international public health community to address current public health issues related to cruise ship sanitation. A similar process was followed to update this version, now titled the VSP Environmental Public Health Standards. These updates clarify content or correct errors in the 2018 edition or address inconsistencies between the 2018 edition and the FDA 2022 Food Code. Compliance with these standards will help to ensure a healthy environment on cruise vessels. The VSP Environmental Public Health Standards reflect comments and corrections submitted by cooperative partners in government and private industry as well as the public. We would like to thank all those who submitted comments and participated throughout this process. As new information, technology, and input are received, we will continue to review and record that information and maintain a public process to keep the VSP Environmental Public Health Standards current. The VSP Environmental Public Health Standards continues 50 years of government and industry working together to achieve a successful and cooperative program that benefits millions of travelers each year.
  
  Luis O. Rodríguez (CAPT, USPHS). Vessel Sanitation Program
  
  
• Subjects:
  Acute Disease Disease Notification Disease Outbreaks Disease Outbreaks / Prevention & Control Environmental Health Gastroenteritis Public Health Surveillance Sanitation / Standards Ships Ships / Standards Travel-Related Illness

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• Keywords:
  Cruise Ships
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Guidance
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Rights:
  Public Domain
• CIO:
  National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)
• Division:
  VSP - Vessel Sanitation Program
• Topic:
  Diseases & Conditions
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  221 pdf pages
• Collection(s):
  Public Health Resources
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4a1dec21924071b457a5ac933c890bdc197b88104787a7826253af6d0ecbe8e97546475f7bfcb435abdb79e679e1e3324743397668d201664a18a65259bd0f6d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/256292/cdc_256292_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 7.34 MB ]