Southern Nevada Health District Cooperative Agreement For Advancing Conformance With The Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards.

Project Summary/AbstractA self assessment of the Standards has identified the following areas most in need of additionalattention: the need for a written and implemented corrective action policy, which will serve as afoundation to develop a quality assurance program; continued work toward standardizinginspection staff; and the adoption of new food regulations that more closely mirror the 2013Food Code. Innovative training programs have also been identified as strategic initiatives topromote active managerial control of the risk factors in the 19,000 food establishments inSouthern Nevada. These programs include food safety information cards to be given tooperations, food safety videos that can be shown to food handlers during inspections,development of a training kitchen at the SNHD facility, and creating a Special Languages Team.A major lesson learned during the self assessment process is that teamwork is absolutelyessential. Owing to this, the projects proposed over the five year Cooperative Agreement willinvolve all levels of EH Staff. The EH Director will fulfill a roll providing oversight and direction,the EH Manager will lead the Risk Factor Study, EH Supervisors will act as Project Leads, EHSpecialists will lead and comprise project teams, and the EH Training Office will developpolicies and provide support. The EH Food Operations Program, Training Office, FacilitiesDesign Assessment and Permitting (formerly plan review) and Special Programs Office, aremade up of 60 Environmental Health (EH) Specialists (EHSs), 9 Senior EHSs, 1 EH TrainingOfficer, 9 EH Supervisors, 2 EH Managers, and 1 EH Director. These staff members each bringa unique skill set that will lead to successful completion of these innovations in food safetyeducation, training, and compliance, thereby bringing the SNHD closer to compliance with theFDA Program Standards.