California Food Protection Rapid Response Team (RRT)

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California Food Protection Rapid Response Team Project Summary/Abstract The mission of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Food and Drug Branch's (FDB), Food Safety Program is to prevent and react to food and food-related problems and emergencies. We accomplish this with a combination of prevention efforts and active intervention and response throughout the entire food chain. Toward that end we have created the California Food Emergency Response Team, or CalFERT, an “All Food Hazards Rapid Response Team (RRT),” to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our response to food emergencies, whether unintentional or through purposeful acts. The primary objective of our proposed program is to further strengthen and sustain California's food protection program and rapid response activities to food and feed emergencies thus contributing to the long-term improvement efforts to the National Integrated Food Safety System. This entails maintaining two staff members from the funds authorized under this grant that will enhance the program's ability to conduct investigations utlizing the Incident Command System (ICS) and development of RRT protocols integrating the GOODSamples guidance; the purchase of additional technical and sampling equipment and supplies; the development and provision of specialized trainings; strengthening of interagency collaboration, cooperation, and communication; and enhancement of coordination and interactions with other states' RRT programs. The goals of this proposal are aligned with the RRT Program Objectives outlined in the RRT 5 Year Plan and include mentorship, RRT capability data capture and assessment, communication, post response and prevention, RRT maturity and maintenance, and sustainability. Accordingly, we are requesting $375,000 in grant funds for each of the next two years. ($300,000 RRT Base Award and $75,000 RRT Additional Optional Elective Funding per year; $750,000 total). This would augment current CDPH capabilities and provide the necessary infrastructure to conduct environmental investigations, tracebacks, and enforcement activities during food and feed emergencies, thereby improving our readiness to act in emergencies. Funding would also allow us to obtain the necessary training to sharpen our internal skill set, improve the availability of critical resources, increase information sharing among federal, state and local agencies, improve on succession planning and sustain the RRT beyond this grant period. An inability to develop and sustain California's RRT program would be detrimental to the state's Food Safety Program and would have national repercussions. California is the nation's largest producer of many important agricultural commodities including dairy, leafy greens, fruit, vegetable, and nut crops. A crisis impacting those commodities would negatively impact millions of consumers in California, the nation, and the world. The economic impact of food emergencies can cost hundreds of millions of dollars due to decreased demands for food commodities because of loss of consumer confidence in the food supply.