Hybrid Enforcement-Consultation Retail Food Safety Consultation Service: Using a Hybrid Enforcement-Consultation Approach and Food Protection Manager Training to Augment AMCS in Local Establishments

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD) Food Safety Program’s primary goal is preventing foodborne illness through a comprehensive program based on the 2009 FDA Food Code and on FDA’s Retail Program Standards. LLCHD retail food inspection trend data revealed that violations of key risk factors for foodborne illness had stabilized and a subset of establishments continued to have significantly higher numbers of Critical Item Violations (or Priority and Priority Foundation). While many regulatory programs have worked with retail food industry to implement Active Managerial Controls (AMC), success has been limited. The goal of LLCHD’s proposal is to reduce foodborne illness originating from retail food establishments and the outcome will be fewer illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths. LLCHD’s objective is to strengthen AMCs at the retail level through implementing an innovative two-part approach to the Retail Food Safety Consultation Program to reduce Key Risk Factor violations among high-risk establishments. Part 1 would begin by reviewing and revising the current LLCHD Food Establishment Enforcement Strategy to incorporate the Retail Food Safety Consultation services. LLCHD would then implement the new hybrid approach to progressive enforcement-consultation with a goal of achieving higher levels of AMC compliance. Part 2 will focus on training food managers in the areas of Special Food Processes by developing and offering a series of trainings for food managers, which will be video recorded and available online as a resource to the retail food community. LLCHD will create a Special Food Processes Certificate for managers that complete each training and demonstrate the corresponding AMCs. This proposal provides a unique opportunity for FDA to test an innovative hybrid enforcement-consultation approach to reducing Risk Factor Violations and AMCs that has had limited application in retail food regulatory programs. If successful, this model will change the field of practice and provide new strategies to achieve a higher level of retail food safety across the U.S., reducing foodborne illness.