Indiana's Food Protection Plan to Advance Conformance With The Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (vnrfrps)

Project SummaryThe Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) Food Protection Program is working toimplement the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS)which include nine standards designed to promote the development of a high-quality retail foodregulatory program. The standards provide a uniform basis for measuring and improving theperformance of prevention, intervention, and response activities. Implementation of theVNRFRPS allows Indiana programs to focus on risk and prevention, ensures programconsistency, and promotes quality assurance and improvement efforts.In addition to having direct jurisdiction over retail food establishments on state property, ISDHhas responsibility for ensuring Indiana local health departments are able to meet retail programstandards. The ISDH Food Protection Program has made progress in conforming to the retailprogram standards within its own program, but further work is needed to better address theremaining gaps and to evaluate implementation success. More importantly, updated statewideretail food protection requirements and initiatives, such as an updated retail food rule andstandardization program, are needed.The mission of ISDH is to promote and provide essential public health services; the vision is ahealthier and safer Indiana. The elements within each standard assist the ISDH Food ProtectionProgram to focus on critical components of its regulatory program necessary to protect thepublic from foodborne illness and injury. This funding opportunity will aid the agency tostrengthen its capability to better direct food safety and regulatory activities to reduce foodborneillness and injuries.