Project Abstract
Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) requests $640,000 for each
of the next five years, to maintain and enhance MFRPS conformance, build and maintain a Rapid Response
Team (RRT), carry out Mutual Reliance practices and projects, and create a Food Protection Task Force.
The efforts undertaken as part of this Cooperative Agreement will further increase the capacity of Wisconsin’s
food safety regulatory program to protect public health and safeguard the food supply. The US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) developed the MFRPS program as a tool to promote uniformity and cooperation
among federal, state and local agencies responsible for regulating manufactured food establishments.
Developing Wisconsin’s RRT will enhance Wisconsin’s ability to detect, respond and abate human and animal
food emergencies through a coordinated response utilizing the Incident Command System as an
organizational structure. Wisconsin views the RRT as an essential component of a nationally integrated food
safety regulatory system. The framework provided by the RRT will allow Wisconsin to establish a coordinated
response program to reduce hazards in human and animal food firms and markets.
The Bureau of Food and Recreational Businesses first enrolled in the MFRPS program in 2007 as one of five
states to pilot the standards. The Bureau completed an initial baseline assessment, developed a strategic
improvement plan, and participated in an FDA Program Assessment Validation Audit (PAVA). In 2012 the
Bureau participated in its 36-month PAVA, and at its 60-month audit in 2014, Wisconsin was found in full
conformance with all 10 Standards (2013 version). In 2016, at the 84-month audit, FDA auditors found room
for improvement in Standard 2, training records. Since then the Bureau has implemented the additional
requirements of the 2016 MFRPS and self-assesses as in full implementation. An integrated food safety system
will promote consistent application of regulations and effective communication between federal, state and
local partners. Wisconsin has been a voluntary (unfunded) RRT since April 2015.
This five--year cooperative agreement will allow Wisconsin to continue its efforts to implement its strategic
improvement plan to achieve, maintain and enhance full-conformance with the standards, become a fully-
functioning RRT state, continue processes of integration and mutual reliance, and meaningfully involve
industry in efforts to operationalize an improved risk-categorization of our establishment inventory and
corresponding license fee structure. All project goals, milestones, objectives and required deliverables for the
four components of this cooperative agreement have been incorporated into its Strategic Improvement Plan.
Highlights of planned activities include:
Maintaining and expanding our quality assurance system to include mutual reliance activities and
evaluation of RRT responses.
Improving information management, document control and record-keeping by implementing document
control procedures via SharePoint, improved mechanisms for mutual reliance data exchange and better
reporting and tracking training, particularly field training.
Incorporating an improved risk categorization into our inspections and licensing system and gaining
industry support for license fees commensurate with risk, thereby securing more resources for our
program
In addition, Wisconsin will actively participate in MFRPS and RRT meetings, training, and audits to share
information with other regulatory agencies.
