Maintaining Fda Voluntary Standards: Taking Care of Vineland

Project Summary/AbstractFoodborne illness is a serious public health threat. The Vineland Health Department (VHD) is committedto minimize this threat by reducing the occurrence of their most common risk factors through activemanagerial controls. In 2003, the VHD enrolled in the FDA's voluntary national Retail Food ProgramStandards (VNRFPS) to improve its retail food safety program and further protect the public. The VHDwas the first in the country to meet all 9 standards in 2012.In the past 18 months to 2 years, the VHD has increasingly struggled to maintain the inspectionfrequency required by the FDA's VNRFPS under Standard 3. This is primarily due to increasedresponsibilities in other areas and the computer programs that VHD inspectors are mandated to use.The current computer programs in use are not specifically designed for health departments. The use ofthis generic software is unduly time-consuming and an extremely inefficient use of inspector time.In order to keep up with the inspection frequency required by Standard 3 and the staffing levelrequirement of Standard 8, the VHD must either hire another licensed inspector or reduce the amountof time inspectors spend writing reports and entering actions into the computer. Standard 8 limits therange of inspections per full time equivalent inspector. Currently, an average report and data entry forone facility will take 1 to 2.5 hours minimum to complete. Additional time is spent if there are manyviolations.The economic downturn has taken a toll on the City of Vineland. Hiring an additional inspector is notfeasible at this time or in the foreseeable future. However, the purchase and use of software specificallydesigned for retail food inspections, with FDA acceptable reports, will reduce computer time by 50% atthe very least, with the potential for even more efficiencies to be realized. The VHD inspectors wouldthen have more time for inspecting, educating the persons in charge and foodhandlers about risk factorsand their controls.Currently, cold holding is out of compliance in 60% of full service restaurants and 40% of delis inVineland. Employee health is out of compliance from 80% to 100% in all categories. In conclusion, theprimary objective of this project is to reduce the incidence of employee health violations by 40% andcold holding by 20% overall in the next risk factor study. The next risk factor study will start in 2019.