Maryland Food Protection Rapid Response Team Project

Maryland Rapid Response TeamFunding Opportunity Title: Food Protection Rapid Response Teams (U18) Funding Opportunity: RFA-FD-15-020 CFDA Number: 93.103Executive Summary.The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) proposes a three-year projectfocused on the continued development and enhancement of the Rapid Response Team Concept.DHMH has already successfully established the State of Maryland Rapid Response Team(SMarRRT) that has had a major impact on food emergencies in Maryland and made significantcontributions to the FDA's overall project. Because many food emergency response situationsinclude wholesale and retail distribution across State lines, this project includes a significantcomponent designed to improve inter-jurisdictional cooperation. The project has five main focusareas:1. The continued application, development and improvement of techniques that not only find application in emergency response but can also be incorporated into the day to day food protection activities of Maryland as part of the Integrated National Food SafetyProgram;2. The integration of electronic data transfer in Maryland between State and Local Health Departments (LHD) to support food emergency response;3. The continued expansion of the RRT concepts into the LHD operations and incorporation LHD resources into SMarRRT to facilitate improved communications, response times and to provide additional surge capacity resources;4. The continued development of a Mid-Atlantic RRT Conference to facilitate close cooperation across State lines in response to food emergencies: and5. The development of geographic information system (GIS) capacity and tools to enhance responses to all-hazards emergencies, and can be readily modified to meet the similar needs of other States and readily expanded across State lines for regional responseactivities.