New Mexico MFRPS Implementation

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Project Abstract Given the large impact of New Mexico’s food manufacturing industry, providing high equality inspections based on the scientific principles of food safety is paramount to protecting New Mexicans and consumers throughout the nation and world. Furthermore, the President has provided a significant level of focus on food safety nationally as has Congress with the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Similarly, within New Mexico we have found an added interest in food safety. The Bureau has experienced a substantial surge in the number of small local producers seeking to begin manufacturing foods. We identified that we were no longer able to keep up with the growing number of questions and requests to provide assistance and speak to various groups. As part of the MFRPS contract funding option, the Bureau requested funding to help answer these questions. The Bureau plans to hire two additional staff that will work solely on NM’s food manufacturing program, including the MFRPS and meeting the growing needs of inspection of food manufacturers. Beginning this endeavor is absolutely essential to meet the needs of the growing interest in adding value to agricultural commodities in NM. However, the State’s resources are currently not adequate to respond to the growing needs of producers and consumers across New Mexico. The Bureau anticipates participation in this cooperative agreement will result in significant enhancement in the quality of inspections and inspectors for NM’s manufactured food facilities. This will be obtained by the following:  The State will achieve and sustain significant to full conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS);  The State will actively engage through an annual face-to-face meeting and participation in committees supporting MFRPS;  The State has and will collaboratively develop strategies and share those strategies with other states;  The State will provide FDA the foundation for pursuing regulatory action based upon the findings of State manufactured food regulatory programs; and  The State will seek to further enhance its capability to protect public health through development and implementation of Standard Enhancement Projects. The goal of this project is to build a manufactured food program to protect consumers throughout the state and beyond. At minimum, absent major unforeseen difficulties, significant conformance will be attained with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards.