California Department of Food and Agriculture AFRPS Maintenance and PC Option

Project Summary/AbstractThe California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) works to ensure the safetyof the food and feed supply through effective prevention, intervention, and responseprograms. Within CDFA, the Commercial Feed Regulatory Program (CFRP) isresponsible for the enforcement of California state law and regulations pertaining to themanufacturing, distribution and labeling of commercial livestock feed while preventingadulterated feed from being consumed by livestock.The goal of the proposed project is to maintain and enhance California?s fullyimplemented Animal Feed Regulatory Program Standards (AFRPS) while buildingCFRP?s ability to perform regulatory work and promote compliance with the PreventiveControls for Animal Food (PCAF) rule. Through active participation in the AFRPS,CFRP has strengthened its already robust inspection and enforcement programs,industry education and training programs, and feed emergency response programs,while also implementing program assessment and accountability measures. Thiscooperative agreement would enable CFRP to further develop and sustain the bestpractices implemented under the AFRPS while simultaneously working to build capacityto conduct comprehensive inspections for compliance with the PCAF rule.CFRP is seeking $525,000 annually for the next five years; this includes $225,000 formaintenance and enhancement of the AFRPS, plus $300,000 to support incorporationof CGMP and PC animal food inspections. Funds will be used to support one dedicatedstaff member to continue further development and maintenance of the AFRPS, plus anadditional staff member to oversee implementation of the preventive controls fundingoption. These funds will supplement existing capabilities and will enable CFRP to furtherenhance its animal feed regulatory program through additional training anddevelopment of staff, enhanced information sharing and interagency collaboration, andexpanded program evaluation. Ultimately this will allow the program to build afoundation that will support sustaining full conformance with AFRPS and PCAFcompliance beyond this grant period. This will increase CFRP?s ability to conduct high-quality comprehensive inspections and investigations to reduce the incidence of animalfeed contamination and, ultimately, foodborne illness associated with animal products.