Food Protection RRT Round 2

The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) Food Protection Division, in collaboration with the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will continue to maintain the State of Mississippi Rapid Response Team (SMRRT) specific to manufactured foods. It will utilize existing SMRRT capabilities to build upon and will maintain a cohesive expertly trained group of responders with a variety of expertise. Team members will continue to include food and feed field inspectors and program specialists, epidemiologists, laboratorians and emergency response personnel. Subject Matter Experts have been identified and training sessions will continue to build expertise in various areas of food safety. Geographic Information Systems will be implemented and utilized for more rapid response and for data analysis; additional personnel will be needed for this project. <p>Objectives for the RRT are as follows:</p><p><ol><li> Maintain SMRRT procedures and resources as fit-for-use. </li><li> Maintain adequate staffing for response capabilities. </li><li> Utilize improved communication and information access in order to rapidly remove adulterated food/feed products from commerce. </li><li> Continue to develop/ implement/maintain product sampling for surveillance of food and feed products based on identified risk factors of operations . </li><li> Plan, communicate, staff, and train for the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).</li></ol></p><p> Rapid Response Team development helps FDA Manufactured Foods Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) in which MSDH is enrolled. Methods for achieving these goals involve increasing dedicated staff (MFRPS Standard 8), enhancing staff development for the SMRRT members (MFRPS Standard 2), and the sharing of best practices statewide with local field inspectors in all three Mississippi agencies (MFRPS Standard 5) which share regulatory responsibility for food safety in Mississippi. Maintaining SMEs during staff turnover will be prioritized; maintaining resources for current Mission Ready Packages (MRPs) is paramount. These will include the development of additional MRPs with the assistance of MSDH Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response additional training sessions for legally defensible sample collections, ensuring that the Division of Food Protections' policies and procedures are maintained as fit for use. Anticipated use of the Mississippi Responder Management System will increase communication effectiveness and can be utilized for planned and unplanned food events. Outreach to industry and the community (MFRPS Standard 7) will also play an integral part of this plan, through presentations, participation in response summits and associated events, and local health fairs.</p>