Flexible Funding Model Infrastructure Development & Maintenance

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Project Summary/Abstract The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) Food Protection Program pursues this funding opportunity to continue its work on the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS), Rapid Response Team (RRT), and Food Protection Task Force (FPTF). These initiatives promote the development of a high-quality food regulatory program which includes a uniform basis for measuring and improving the performance of prevention, intervention, and response activities. Conformance with these initiatives allow the program to focus on risk and prevention, rather than event and reaction, and ensures program consistency, and promotes continuous quality assurance and improvement efforts. These initiatives also promote a national Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS) which is mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The ISDH Food Protection Program has implemented MFRPS, but has determined that this quality improvement system has not been fully integrated into the program's culture. The program must find more sustainable methods to conform to and maintain these standards. A funded RRT in Indiana has been established for two years, and the program looks forward to more fully developing and sustaining Indiana's RRT. The Indiana Food Safety and Defense Task Force began under another name in 2003, and continues to advance by broadening outlooks and strengthening partnerships. The mission of the Indiana State Department of Health is to promote and provide essential public health services; the vision is a healthier and safer Indiana. The agency does so with laboratory, epidemiology, and food protection professionals. This funding opportunity will aid the ISDH Food Protection Program agency in strengthening the agency's and state's capability to prevent, investigate, and mitigate food and feed emergencies through assessment, policy development, and quality assurance, and training/educational activities. It also provides the capability to better direct food safety and regulatory activities to reduce foodborne illness hazards. Finally, an IFSS represents a seamless partnership among federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal agencies to achieve a safer food supply. While the ISDH Food Protection Program has established many necessary partnerships, there is still room for improvement.