Developing a Comprehensive Food and Feed Program Rapid Response Team for Pennsylv

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RRT Abstract A core mission of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA is to develop and maintain the ability to rapidly and efficiently respond to incidents that may adversely impact Pennsylvania's food and feed supply inventory. Pennsylvania provides food, fiber, and fuel to 12.5 million citizens and is represented by 60,000 post-harvest food facilities, and is valued at $46.4 billion. Food safety represents a public health and economic concern which must be managed to address today's natural and intentional food system threats. PDA has a mandate to continue to enhance the work done on the regulatory front while creating and growing collaborative efforts that bring agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private sector groups together to enhance the safety and security of the food supply. It is this mandate that drives PDA to improve and modernize existing food safety protocols and to be proactive on both food security and food safety. Under this pretense, PDA has implemented initiatives and programs to help strengthen the Pennsylvania food system. Some of these initiatives include food safety response objective-based strategies and procedures; intra and inter-agency communications; the Food Employee Certification Program; and, continued understanding of Emergency Support Function 11 response protocols which are primarily managed by PDA.