Practical Application of HACCP for Regulators, Operators, and the Community

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ABSTRACT The Multnomah County Environmental Health (MCEH) Food Safety Program regulates the food retail industry in Multnomah County, Oregon. Multnomah is the most populous and diverse county in Oregon, accounting for nearly 20% of the state's population. MCEH is proposing the multi-faceted "Practical Application of HACCP for Regulators, Operators, and the Community" project to build regulatory and industry capacity to use and regulate food systems based on the principles on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) within Multnomah County. The current food retail context in Multnomah County is comprised of a diverse terrain, including restaurants specializing in local foods and foods that require special processing, food carts selling high-risk edibles, and a micro-enterprise movement that, at present, is completely unlicensed and unstandardized. The overall goal of this project is to assist local food establishments and street vendors in improving food safety through the application of HACCP- based principles to their small businesses. The Specific Aims of this project are to: 1. Increase the competency and capacity of local MCEH staff to approve, monitor and inspect food processes based on HACCP principles. 2. Increase food service industry awareness of HACCP principles. 3. Improve the competency and ability of food service industry, including food cart vendors, to use the principles of HACCP and develop HACCP plans for food processes that require them under the newly adopted food code. 4. Enhance systems to support the success of unlicensed and nontraditional food service operators in their conformance with the standards. 5. Evaluate the effect of Food Code adoption on violations, scores, inspection time and support needs for food service industry operators to achieve compliance. Applying HACCP principles to restaurants and mobile units, special processing performed by facilities, and food-related microenterprises, some of which are home-based, will provide a standardized way to identify risk factors and obtain immediate- and long-term corrective action for those that are recurring. This will ultimately result in a reduction of food-borne illnesses.