Jefferson County Public Health: Building Capacity to Improve Retail Food Establi

<p>Project Summary: Statement of Objectives: To strengthen the retail food safety system by reducing or eliminating the occurrence of illness and deaths from food produced at the retail level in Jefferson County Colorado.
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Methods: The Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) regulatory retail food program will build capacity to improve retail establishment inspections using the existing strategic framework and continuous program improvement model provided by the Food and Drug Administration Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards. By implementing procedures and methods that will facilitate long term improvements in the regulatory retail food program, food safety activities will be designed, evaluated and continuously improved as they become a part of the day to day operation of the regulatory retail food program in Jefferson County Environmental Health Specialists and program supervisors will collaborate to develop and design an inspection program that a) improves documentation of the compliance status of foodborne illness risk factors (risk factors); b) reports and tracks the results of baseline data to determine the risk factors most in need of improvement c) assures greater uniformity during inspections of retail establishments and d) builds collaborative partnerships with consumers, industry and regulatory partners. The regulatory retail food program will also implement a risk based methodology based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles that will determine inspection frequency and prioritization of regulatory activities. JCPH will elevate the current regulatory retail food program by promoting greater uniformity while reducing foodborne illness and death in Jefferson County Colorado.</p>