Conformance With The Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (mfrps) (u18)

California Food Safety Program Conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program StandardsProject Summary/AbstractThe mission of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Food and Drug Branch(FDB), Food Safety Section (FSS) is to ensure the safety of the food supply through effectiveprevention, intervention and response programs. As a means of accomplishing this mission,FDB has developed strong inspection and enforcement programs, industry education andtraining programs and food emergency response programs.The primary objective of our proposal is to further develop, implement, and sustain California'sbest practices for a high-quality regulatory program to enhance food safety. This would entailthe strengthening of interagency collaboration, cooperation, and communication; achievementand sustainment of compliance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards(MFRPS); development and implementation of Standard Enhancement Projects (SEPs); andenhancement of coordination and interactions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) and other states' food safety programs.Under this proposal we are requesting $300,000 in grant funds for each of the next five years.Grant funds will be used to augment current food safety program capabilities, and provide thenecessary infrastructure to continue further development and sustainment of MFRPS. Twodedicated staff members will work on enhancing the program's ability to conduct high-qualityinspections and investigations to reduce the incidence of food contamination and ultimatelyfoodborne illness associated with products manufactured and distributed within California. ThisRequest For Application (RFA) will enable FDB to further enhance its food regulatory programthrough additional training and development of staff to increase skills and expertise, initiation ofstandard enhancement projects, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of critical resources,increasing information sharing among federal, state and local agencies, improving successionplanning and sustaining full conformance with MFRPS beyond this grant period.Inability to develop and sustain California's MFRPS would be detrimental to the State's FoodSafety Program and would have national repercussions. California is the nation's largestproducer of many important agricultural commodities including dairy, leafy greens, fruit,vegetable, and nut crops. A crisis impacting those commodities would negatively impactmillions of consumers in California, the nation, and the world. This has been demonstrated bypast national foodborne illness outbreaks that were traced back to California such as the 2006E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with spinach and lettuce that resulted in thousands ofillnesses (when considering under-reporting). The economic impact of such food emergenciescan cost hundreds of millions of dollars due to decreased demands for food commoditiesbecause of loss of consumer confidence in the food supply. Implementation of MFRPS withinCalifornia gives the program the best opportunity to reduce the incidence of contaminated foodsfrom entering the marketplace and prevent illnesses before they occur.