Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Dairy, and Food Inspection Divisions Response

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Division of Federal-State Relations (DFSR) and the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), is announcing the availability of cooperative agreements to be awarded under Limited Competition to State, local, territorial, or tribal retail food regulatory programs. The intended outcome of this FOA is to advance efforts for a nationally integrated food safety system through the conformance with and advancement of the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS or Retail Program Standards). The VNRFRPS apply to the operation and management of a retail food regulatory program that is focused on the reduction of risk factors known to contribute to foodborne illness and the promotion of industry action to achieve active managerial control of these risk factors. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) Dairy and Food Inspection Division (DFID) licenses and inspects approximately 10,000 food facilities including 8,000 retail food establishments in Minnesota and delegates and oversees retail food inspection authority to 9 local health agencies in the state. The 9 local health agencies license and inspect approximately 2,500 retail facilities under a delegation agreement with MDA. The DFID has program responsibility for both retail and manufactured foods and has a staff complement of 50 for food related activities with 31 devoted to field inspection. Approximately 80 per cent of the food program's workload is in retail food licensing, compliance, and inspection activities. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture, as part of this application, will create a comprehensive Strategic Plan that outlines the milestones and goals needed to gain full conformance to the VNRFRPS within the 5 year grant period. This application also describes the creation of a Model Standard Operating Procedure Library that will serve as a resource to other agencies and jurisdictions attempting to conform to these standards.