Georgia Department of Agriculture's Laboratory Flexible Funding Model project

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Laboratory Flexible Funding Model (LFFM) - OVERALL Project Period: July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2025 Project Summary / Abstract (Overall) The Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) and Animal Feed Regulatory Program Standards (AFRPS) established a uniform foundation for management of state programs responsible for the regulation of facilities including laboratory analysis for chemical and microbiological contaminants. The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) participated in a 2011 Improvement Plan followed by a five-year cooperative agreement to obtain ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation. This project was later supported by a two-year Accreditation Maintenance and Enhancement grant and an addition year to expand upon accreditation in order to support the regulatory agency’s primary servicing lab. GDA laboratories achieved, enhanced, and maintained accreditation which assists their regulatory agencies in compliance requirements for contractual work on behalf of FDA. In order for GDA laboratories to maintain their accreditation and support the regulatory agency as their primary laboratory, continuous support is needed to offset the added expense required for Quality Assurance activities as well as the ongoing upkeep of critical analytical equipment. For state partners to accept added responsibility for Global Food Safety initiatives continued support and enhancement will be necessary for the primary servicing labs to maintain analytical capability for meeting these goals. To achieve these goals the laboratory will rely upon established relationships with our regulatory agency and their agreement to collect and analyze samples under the MFRPS and AFRPS agreements for possible regulatory enforcement. GDA has already developed and demonstrated successful relationships with their regulatory partners and ability to fulfill this objective. Signed agreements have been previously forged to collect and analyzed samples for contaminants using state inspectors and robust sampling plans. These results will be submitted in a national database repository and violative adulterations will be subject to appropriate regulatory action. This grant will allow GDA laboratories to maintain accreditation to international standards, protect the public by collecting and analyzing samples for contaminants and to cumulatively contribute to an integrated national food safety system.