When cyclosporiasis or Salmonella ramp up, having real-time numbers of infections can strengthen public health response Every day, we make countless decisions about what to eat, often without giving them much thought. We might grab a quick bite at a local fast-food restaurant before rushing to work and then piece together a quick bagged salad for lunch in between meetings. These small, ordinary daily decisions rely on a large, complex food safety surveillance system that we don’t even notice until something goes wrong.