Project Summary/Abstract
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department (LLCHD) Food Safety
Program's primary goal is preventing foodborne illness through a comprehensive
program based on the 2013 FDA Food Code and on FDA's Retail Program Standards.
LLCHD retail food inspection trend data revealed that violations of key risk factors for
foodborne illness had stabilized and a subset of establishments continued to have
significantly higher numbers of Critical Item Violations (or Priority and Priority
Foundation). While many regulatory programs have worked with retail food industry to
implement Active Managerial Controls (AMC), success has been limited.
Through previous FDA grants, LLCHD developed and implemented a Food
Safety Consultation program and adapted Food Enforcement strategies, developing a
hybrid approach of progressive-enforcement-consultation strategy with the goal of
achieving high levels of AMC adoption. To build on the increased focus of developing
AMCs with facilities, a new Active Managerial Control Inspection approach was created
in 2019. Melding both consultation and inspection, the goal was to create a
collaborative, educational experience for managers to develop solutions for risk factors
identified during visits.
The goal of LLCHD's proposal is to reduce foodborne illness originating from
retail food establishments and the outcome will be fewer illnesses, hospitalizations and
deaths. LLCHD's objective is to strengthen AMCs at the retail level by continuing to
develop and expand the Active Managerial Control Inspection Pilot and build upon the
Infuse program by creating a method of determining levels of AMC adoptions by
facilities.
First, components of the AMC inspection will be assessed, policies and
procedures will be developed, and the project expanded. Customer Discovery Surveys
and subsequent regular and AMC Inspections will be conducted, and data gained will
be used to further improve the project. Second, policies for an AMC Inspection process
and training program will be created. With the newly developed training program, the
AMC Inspection Pilot will incorporate additional LLCHD Food Safety field staff.
Second, a system for measuring the level of adoptions of AMCs will be
developed to improve communication between the consultant, facilities, and inspectors.
Levels of adoption will be defined, with standards for each, along with a visual aid to
demonstrate progress through these levels. The aid can serve as a quick, visual tool to
express how facilities have progressed or need to improve. This visual aid will serve as
a reward system to encourage sustained behavior change.
This proposal provides a unique opportunity for the FDA to continue to test an
innovative approach to Food Safety Consultation and Active Managerial Control
Inspections. If successful, these models can provide new strategies to achieve a higher
level of retail food safety across the U.S., reducing foodborne illness.
