Enhance the Capacity and Capabilities of Tennessee's Human and Animal Food Testing Laboratory in support of an Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS) - Overall Abstract The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) outlines a new approach to food safety that is risk- informed and preventive in focus. To develop prevention-based systems, sample data and other information are needed to help identify and address hazards. This project will leverage state laboratories (such as the Technical Services Laboratory of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture) to produce a large quantity of high-quality sample data. These datasets will drive a risk- based and prevention-focused food safety system that both the FDA and State partners (Tennessee’s human and animal food regulatory programs) can utilize for tracking and trending, early identification of emerging issues, and evaluation for future sampling initiatives and areas of focus. The Laboratory Flexible Funding Model (LFFM) is a cooperative agreement program, and therefore the work accomplished within it is public health oriented and of mutual benefit to FDA and Tennessee regulators. Specifically, within the Product Testing Tracks, FDA sets priorities for commodity-hazard pairs and funded labs select what work aligns with their goals, capabilities, and interests, in collaboration with State Regulatory Program (SRP) partners. Samples collected and analyzed under the proposed work may be for a variety of purposes: regulatory, surveillance, blinded studies, Total Diet Study (TDS), signals evaluation surveillance, baseline prevalence data, etc. Human and animal food finished products as well as in-process and raw ingredient samples will be analyzed by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to ensure they do not reach consumers with harmful contaminants, to respond to emergency events, or to verify they contain ingredients at levels as declared on product labeling. Environmental swabs from food production facilities may also be analyzed as part of for-cause facility investigations in response to positive product samples. Overall, this proposal will strengthen and improve FDA’s efforts to prevent foodborne illnesses and minimize foodborne exposures through building a nationally integrated laboratory science system and equip partner laboratories, such as the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Technical Services Laboratory, with additional resources that can be employed to build and increase sample throughput capacity within the state.
