Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Advancing Conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards

Va St Dept/ Agriculture & Consumer Srvs, Richmond VA

Investigators

Abstract

Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Advancing Conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards Project Summary/Proposal Abstract The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) is seeking funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under RFA-FD-17-007 to support the department's conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS). The amount of funding requested is $210,000. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Division of Federal-State Relations (DFSR) and the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), is announcing the availability of cooperative agreements to be awarded under Limited Competition. This opportunity is only available to State, local, territorial, or tribal retail food regulatory programs with primary regulatory responsibility for retail food establishments that are currently enrolled in the VNRFRPS and have completed a current self-assessment against the Retail Program Standards as required by Standard 9. The VDACS Office of Dairy & Foods, Food Safety Program meets all requirements to be eligible for this funding. The program serves as one of the state's primary retail food regulatory programs and is currently enrolled in the VNRFRPS. The program's last self-assessment against the Retail Program Standards as required by Standard 9 was completed on August 23, 2016. The Program has had verification audits showing the following Standards are met: Standard 2 ? Trained Regulatory Staff, 3 ? Inspection Program Based on HACCP Principles, Standard 5 ?Foodborne Illness and Food Defense Preparedness and Response and Standard 7 ? Industry and Community Relations. Funding provided by the RFA will be utilized to continue the program's conformance with the VNRFRPS by implementing procedures that promote active managerial control of the risk factors most commonly associated with foodborne illness in food establishments. Specifically, the funding will be used to hire an additional employee that would be responsible for working on the Standards full-time and thus continue the Program's progress with meeting Standard 1 ? Regulatory Foundation, Standard 4 ? Uniform Inspection Program, Standard 6 ? Compliance and Enforcement and Standard 9 ? Program Assessment. In addition, funding will be used to remain in conformance with Standards already met.