North Carolina Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) (U18)

The specific aim of the NCDA&CS Food and Drug Protection Division Food Program in submitting the enclosed proposal for funding is to continue their efforts towards building the nationally integrated food safety system as required in the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011. The outcome that will be realized is the definition and implementation of processes and systems that comprise a model inspection system. In addition, there will be continuation of the infrastructure building that is required to achieve full conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS). Goals Achieve full compliance with the MFRPS - Achieve full conformance with the MFRPS within the five year of this cooperative program. Quality Management System -Currently the food Program's quality management system is being maintained by a Quality Specialist (Food Compliance Officer I) but that position will terminate with the conclusion of the Rapid Response Team and Infrastructure Development Cooperative Agreement in August 2013. The Food Program is proposing continued funding for this position for the next five years to ensure that the Food Program efforts to improve their quality management initiative will continue to develop and be executed. Regulatory Base - Once the final rules for each component of FSMA are released, North Carolina will be faced with a massive rule making process that will require expertise in law as well as the State's rule making process. In order to address this need, the Food Program is proposing the addition of a Regulatory Policy Coordinator position to accomplish this task. The position will require a background in law and a focus on administrative rule making Outreach - NCDA&CS currently has a position that focuses on the outreach activities required by MFRPS Standard 7. Funding for that position will terminate with the conclusion of the Rapid Response Team and Infrastructure Development Cooperative Agreement in August 2013. The Food Programs is proposing to continue funding of that position of Outreach Coordinator (Food Compliance Officer I) to focus on the additional outreach and education requirements mandated by implementation of FSMA. Development of FSMA training for staff - Changes to the inspection process mandated by new or revised regulation requirements within FSMA require re-engineering the Food Program's inspection processes. As part of the MFRPS Cooperative Agreement, it is being proposed that a video-based, regulation-specific set of training be developed and delivered in conjunction with North Carolina State's Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences. This expected outcome is that the Food Program's staff will achieve a demonstrated mastery of each change in regulation requirements (MFRPS Standards 2 and 3).