Limited Competition: Advancing Conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Foo

The primary objective of this grant is to achieve conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS or Retail Program Standards). The following activities are planned in order to meet the objectives detailed in RFA-FD-12-011 Limited Competition: Advancing Conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS) (U18). 1. Fund one Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Full Time Equivalent (FTE); a Sanitarian II position. This employee will act as Program Director of this grant. 2. Purchase IT equipment - Samsung Windows Tablet Series 7 Slate. 3. Develop training for 5 in-house inspectors for use of equipment and goals set for the baseline study for likely food borne illness conditions needed to enable DSHS to comply with Standard 9. The focus will be on the reduction of the incidence of risk factors known to cause or contribute to foodborne illness and to the promotion of active managerial control of these risks. Allow for a trend analysis of the effectiveness of the program. 4. Familiarize new employee to the Texas Rapid Response Team (TRRT), which is partnered with DSHS, FDA Dallas District Office (DALDO) and the Office of the Texas State Chemist (OTSC). Include new Retail employee in the TRRT Incident Command System (ICS) training for all TRRT members. Position Specific training to be scheduled in winter of 2013. 5. Plan activities/travel for approximately 80+ inspections per year based upon DSHS inventory for retail establishments. 6. All data obtained will be inputted into DSHS Access data base. The resulting statistical analysis will be reported to the Texas Health and Human Service Commission and FDA for national statistics study developed to advance efforts for a nationally integrated food safety system.