National Environmental Health Assoc. (NEHA) Food Safety Capacity Building Through Integrated Food Safety Systems (IFSS) Training

The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) submits this proposal to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Office of Resource Management (ORM), Division of Human Resource Development (DHRD), Funding Opportunity Announcement Number: RFA-FD-15-039. NEHA is seeking funding for developing and implementing critically needed training for state, local, territorial, and tribal food safety agencies. The goal of the FDA/DHRD Cooperative Agreement Grant is to provide access to more training for regulators as part of an integrated food safety system (IFSS). NEHA will present a framework that will enable state and local agencies to easily receive FDA-sanctioned courses under IFSS food programs, as well as supporting the efforts of FDA by maintaining training records for course participants and instructors, and issuing course certificates to those who successfully complete training. Funding through the FDA/DHRD Cooperative Agreement will be used to examine current training needs for IFSS food and feed inspectors and regulators and evaluate the impact and success of those courses based on continual feedback from both instructors and trainees. As determined by the responses, additional courses will be created to identify specific agency related training needs to meet program standards. Funding will allow NEHA to develop train-the-trainer programs to ensure that instructors meet FDA-identified competencies. Instructors will be audited on an even basis to measure alignment with the competencies and the ongoing needs of the IFSS national curriculum standards. Moving forward beyond the term of this cooperative agreement, NEHA plans to invest in and maintain the course content and instructional infrastructures it develops as part of the agreement. In order to support these costs, NEHA would implement revenue-generating models for delivering the content. Because the Association is focused on and committed to the food safety industry and regulatory communities, any content developed under this cooperative agreement would fit seamlessly into NEHA’s broad food safety course offerings. As the only association whose sole focus is environmental health, NEHA is uniquely positioned to represent the professional who will benefit most from this cooperative agreement. NEHA is requesting funding in the amount of $1,000,000 per year for a five-year cooperative agreement. Please contact Rance Baker at 303-756-9090, ext. 306 or at rbaker@neha.org.