NACCHO requests local health staff feedback to inform the development of the Integrated Food Safety System Regulatory Training Strategic Plan through a newly released environmental scan from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The survey closes November 10, 2022.
What is this?
As you may know, an Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS) provides the vision, guiding principles, and key components of a coordinated approach to food safety. See IFSS initiatives, programs, and projects. The IFSS includes the implementation of seamless partnerships and operations among federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal (SLTT) agencies as well as academic, foreign, industry, and consumer stakeholders (“strategic partners”) to achieve the public health mission of a safer human and animal food (HAF) supply.
An IFSS requires a well-trained, integrated workforce, consisting of federal and SLTT personnel involved in all aspects of food safety including inspection, compliance, laboratory analysis, epidemiological investigation, emergency response, as well as leaders and managers. The FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) Office of Training, Education, and Development (OTED) designs, develops, and delivers free training to FDA, other federal, and SLTT HAF regulatory partners (including laboratories) (known as “HAF regulatory partners”).
What is the IFSS Regulatory Training Strategic Plan, and why is it important?
The Strategic Plan will outline the high-level outcomes, goals, and objectives to help FDA and its partners design and implement an optimal, sustainable, integrated national regulatory training system.
This five-year plan (October 2023 to September 2028) is being developed by the Office of Training, Education and Development, in coordination with key FDA personnel and national association partners — including NACCHO. It will apply to training supporting all HAF regulatory partners in the IFFS (e.g., FDA, other federal and SLTT regulatory partners, laboratories, and associations) and will include the following commodity areas: manufactured food, produce, eggs, animal food, and state cooperative programs - retail, Grade “A” milk, and shellfish.
NACCHO Seeks Local Level Input
Local regulatory program staff input is critical in helping the FDA and partners design an integrated national regulatory training program that advances a national IFSS and domestic mutual reliance. To do so, the FDA has released an environmental scan to gather information on influences on human and animal food (HAF) regulatory training. Your unique perspective will be used to help develop a well-trained, integrated workforce that conducts comparable work at all levels and provide key data as strategic goals are being developed.
Please take 15 to 20 minutes to complete the survey no later than Thursday, November 10.
Please note: The survey link is for one-time use per user. Respondents will not be allowed to save and return to the survey later; each respondent must complete the survey the first time the link is opened.
Help Spread the Word About the Survey
We encourage you to share this email with your colleagues including all HAF regulatory, policy, laboratory, and land/sea grant university personnel who are involved in HAF regulatory training, including manufactured food, produce, eggs, animal food, retail food, Grade “A” milk, and shellfish.
The ORA will communicate summarized survey findings to key stakeholders during the development of the plan. The IFSS Regulatory Training Strategic Plan will publish in the fall of 2023.
For additional background, please review the attached document.
Feel free to send questions to the IFSS Regulatory Training Strategic Planning Team.
