FLEXIBLE FUNDING MODEL - INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE FOR ILLINOIS MANUFACTURED FOOD REGULATORY PROGRAM STANDARDS

Funding Opportunity Title:Flexible Funding Model- Infrastructure Development and Maintenance for State ManufacturedFood Regulatory Program Standards (U18)Project Summary/AbstractThe Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is located in Springfield, the Capitol of Illinois. ADirector oversees the Offices of Finance and Administration, Human Resources, HealthProtection, Health Promotion, Health Care Regulation, Women's Health and Family Services,Information Technology, Preparedness and Response, and Policy, Planning & Statistics. ADeputy Director is in charge of operations for each of these Offices, which are further brokendown into Sections and Divisions, each led by a Chief.Under the Office of Health Protection are the Divisions of Laboratories, Environmental Health,Infectious Diseases and the Food, Drugs and Dairies.The Division of Food, Drugs and Dairies (FDD) is comprised of various programs, namely Dairy,Body Art & Tanning, and Food Program. The FDD Food Program maintains jurisdiction overmanufactured food products in Illinois, including Food Processing Firms, Salvage FoodWarehouses, Bottled Water Plants and Sources, Shellfish Shippers, Juice Hazard Analysis andCritical Control Points (HACCP), Sprouts and Seafood HACCP Firms, with the exception ofmeat and poultry, which are under Illinois Department of Agriculture. Restaurants and retailgrocery stores are under the jurisdiction of Local Health Departments (LHD). The FDD Divisionprovides technical support to the LHDs on Retail Food through the Local Health ProtectionGrant Program.The Manufactured Food Program is designed to minimize the occurrence of foodborne illnessand ensure that foods manufactured, processed, packaged or stored in Illinois are safe,wholesome, have been prepared in a sanitary manner under sanitary conditions, and areproperly labeled.To achieve its goal, IDPH has divided the State's 102 counties into seven (7) regions. There is aregional office in each region referred to as the IDPH Regional Office. IDPH Divisions haveemployees stationed in the Regional Office for convenience in travel and outreach for theirvarious programs. The FDD Division has 2 to 4 inspectors headed by a Regional SupervisingInspector in each region. Conducting initial and complaint inspections, and foodborne outbreakinvestigation of all registered manufactured food processing establishments, are FDD trainedfield staff. Inspectors hold a Bachelor's Degree with minimum 30 hours of Science to gainemployment as an Environmental Health Specialist I, II or III.