MFRPS Maintenance, California Department of Public Health - Flexible Funding Model-Infrastructure Development and Maintenance for State Manufactured Food Regulatory Programs Project Summary/Abstract The mission of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Food and Drug Branch (FDB) food safety program is to ensure the safety of the food supply through effective prevention, intervention, and response programs. As a means of accomplishing this mission, FDB has developed strong regulatory inspection, compliance, and enforcement programs, and industry education, outreach, and training programs. The primary objective of our proposal is to continue maintenance of California’s best practices for a high-quality regulatory program to enhance food safety. This entails continued interagency collaboration, cooperation, and communication; maintenance and sustainment of conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS); and continued strengthening of partnerships, coordination, and interactions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other states’ food safety programs. Under this proposal, we are requesting $1,350,000 in grant funds for each of the next three years (per year: $350,000 supporting MFRPS maintenance, and $100,000 supporting dietary supplement program development). Authorized grant funds will be used to improve and augment current food safety program capabilities and maintain the necessary infrastructure to continue sustainment of MFRPS. Under MFRPS, one dedicated staff member will work as the MFRPS coordinator to maintain the FDB food safety program’s ability to conduct high-quality inspections and investigations to reduce the incidence of food contamination and ultimately foodborne illness associated with products manufactured and distributed within California. Additionally, resources will be dedicated to the development of a high-quality dietary supplement regulatory program designed to ensure that manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and dietary ingredients are prohibited from marketing products that are adulterated or misbranded. Grant monies will enable the FDB food safety program to improve, augment, and continue its food regulatory program through training and development of staff to increase skills and expertise; maintain efficiency and effectiveness of critical resources; maintain information sharing among federal, state, and local agencies; maintain succession planning; and sustain full conformance with MFRPS and development of a comprehensive dietary supplement program. California is the nation’s top agricultural producing state. California’s activities are essential to the success of a nationally integrated food safety system.
