Development of Strategies to Achieve and Maintain Compliance With The Manufacture

Conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards(MFRPS)Proposal AbstractThe Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) is seeking funding to supportthe agency's Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) Implementation andContinuation Project. The VDACS Food Safety & Security Program meets all requirements to be eligiblefor this funding. The program serves as the state's manufactured food regulatory program and has acurrent food safety inspection contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The Food Safety & Security Program received funding from 2009-2013 as a part of the FDA RapidResponse Team and Program Infrastructure Prototype Project. Utilizing those funds the Program beganthe process of conducting a MFRPS self assessment, developing an improvement plan, and designingstrategic goals meant to address identified gaps in our assessment. Currently the program has achievedcomplete conformance with Standards 7, 8, 9, and 10 and substantial conformance with Standards 2, 3,and 5. Standards 1, 4 and 6 are currently listed as only partially implemented.Funding provided by this cooperative agreement will be utilized to support program staff tasked withthe development of procedures and practices designed to address identified Program gaps to completeconformance with all ten of the MFRPS. This work will include but is not limited to the creation ofspecific procedures for conducting manufacturing inspections, the development and documentation ofquality assurance procedures for the State manufactured foods program, review of state laws andregulations, and implementation of advanced tools designed to track and monitor performance andimplementation of compliance procedures throughout the Office of Dairy and Foods All workcompleted under this funding will be reviewed for applicability to other local, state, and federalprograms and when appropriate will be provided to FDA Standards Implementation Staff for distributionto other interested parties.