Continuing to support the Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS) National Curriculum Standard (NCS) through course development, delivery, and ongoing evaluation

AFDO Application for RFA-FD-20-024 - PROJECT SUMMARY
The Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) proposes to collaborate with FDA/OTED
and national food safety training partners to establish a coordinated effort for expansion and
development of the Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS) National Curriculum Standard (NCS),
including continued development of human and animal food (including Retail Food,
Manufactured Food, Animal Food, Produce, Milk, Laboratory, and Shellfish) competency and
curriculum frameworks, further development and validation of human and animal food
competency statements and behavioral anchors, and updates to and development of human
and animal food training courses to meet the needs of state and local food regulatory agencies,
which is required for a successful, national IFSS. The end goal of this proposed project is to
significantly increase training opportunities for human and animal food regulatory agencies,
leading to long term improvements in the knowledge, skills, and abilities of regulators as part of
an IFSS.
AFDO will recruit human and animal food subject matter experts (SMEs) to create a pool of
qualified candidates who can assist in the development of curriculums, frameworks,
competencies, and courses. AFDO will also assist with the instructor qualification process for
course delivery and to assure that all SMEs who will deliver United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) human and animal food courses will first complete instructor skills training
(ISTs) and demonstrate their training capabilities through the satisfactory completion of course
specific instructor training (CSIT) or an audit assessment conducted during the pilot testing of
training courses or programs developed.
Achieving all project objectives will require extensive cooperation and coordination between
training partners. AFDO will build upon its existing broad network of resources, including its
community of federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal entities built over more than 120 years of
the association’s existence and experience. The outcomes of this project will be the
advancement of a national IFSS through the establishment of a well-coordinated NCS, an
increase in the number of quality human and animal food courses available to regulators, and
an increase in the number and quality of trained and vetted SME trainers.