Advancing Conformance with Retail Food Program Standards

The City of Berkeley Division of Environmental Health continues to achieve success with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards. Lessons learned have spurred ideas to further strengthen and improve retail food safety in Berkeley; therefore, the Division is requesting funding to develop two (2) additional initiatives that support and advance the Standards. These initiatives are not part of any existing project funded by an FDA grant. Project #1: Develop a modular based food safety curriculum focused on the five (5) FDA/CDC identified foodborne illness risk factors, and targeted at independently operated food facilities (i.e., mom and pop) that do not have access to corporate food safety training materials. The intent of this project is to organize and develop food safety training material into modules that can be used by a field specialist (or classroom trainer) in three (3) different ways: 1. Each individual module will stand alone as a single-subject training topic for use as an immediate on-the-spot intervention strategy for an out-of-compliance risk factor; 2. Individual modules can be combined to meet the specific training needs of a food facility; and 3. When all modules are taught together, they will create a comprehensive curriculum for food employees with a specific focus on reducing foodborne illness risk factors and implementing intervention strategies to ensure better long-term compliance. Project #2: Develop a model guidance for sustainability and resilience that ensures a jurisdiction’s long-term support for the Standards, ensures risk-based food safety is a documented priority within a jurisdiction’s governing documents and initiatives, and provides a strategy for managing change. The intent of this project is to develop: 1. An institutional strategy that emphasizes the criticality of risk-based food safety within a jurisdiction’s governing documents; 2. A mechanism that helps ensure risk-based food safety decisions are paramount during the development of a jurisdiction’s work plans, initiatives, and event response; 3. A listing of recommended visibility strategies, metrics, and milestones that reinforce and support the Standards, and that can be incorporated into planning and governing documents; and 4. A model intervention strategy and guidance document to assist a jurisdiction encountering obstacles and interested in establishing a similar support strategy.