FLEXIBLE FUNDING MODEL - WV MANUFACTURED FOOD REGULATORY PROGRAM MAINTENANCE

Project Summary:The focus of the Flexible Funding Model ? West Virginia Manufactured Food RegulatoryProgram Maintenance project is to maintain conformance with the Manufactured FoodRegulatory Program Standards, support the West Virginia Food Safety and DefenseTask Force, and unify multijurisdictional response efforts to human and animal foodemergencies.The West Virginia Manufactured Food Program will maintain and update proceduresand program quality assurance systems, implement staff training requirements, tailoreffective industry outreach, and improve sampling strategy and techniques. Additionalefforts to enhance the program include utilizing an electronic inspection system toimprove firm inventory maintenance, inspection report quality, and tracking of commonviolations and violators.The West Virginia Human and Animal Food Rapid Response Team will advanceresponse efforts by providing training to several agencies throughout the state, andcontinuing work with district partners to refine multijurisdictional response.The West Virginia Food Safety and Defense Task Force will meet one time per year.The task force will provide a forum for all food safety and defense stakeholders,including regulatory, industry, academia and consumers. Animal food representativeswill be included in the task force, and the focus of the task force will be regulatoryupdates and targeting industry and public outreach.The objectives of this project are to strengthen the WV Manufactured Food RegulatoryProgram by effective regulation, appropriate and timely food incident response, andbolstering relationships with food safety and defense stakeholders. The long-term goalsare continuous improvement of the West Virginia Manufactured Food RegulatoryProgram, and to be part of an integrated food safety system.