The North Carolina Department of Agriculture &Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) Food & Drug Protection Division (""""""""the Division"""""""") executes its mission of ensuring a safe and secure food supply by enforcing the North Carolina Food, Drug &Cosmetic Act, the North Carolina Dairy Laws, and the North Carolina Egg Law. The Division conducts inspections of manufactured foods facilities and certain egg facilities under contract with the FDA. The food regulatory program is an active participant in the integrated national food safety system, and has elected the MFRPS implementation option under the food contract. The Division also contributes to the Partnership for Food Protection as part of the auditing workgroup. Through the proposed activities, the Division seeks to enhance its capacity to conduct inspections, adhere to a risk- based approach to food safety, respond effectively to food safety incidents, and collaborate with partner agencies. The following goals and criteria are targeted in this proposal: Criteria 1: Achievement of goals states in the RFA Goal 1: Innovate and deploy information-based food safety tools in support of an integrated national food safety system Goal 2: Build capacity to conduct food safety inspections and investigations through improved information management and training Goal 3: Enhance public health outcomes through improved data management and analytical capability Goal 4: Provide evidence and metrics of improvements in program performance Criteria 2: Develop a sustainable, scalable, and portable inspection data management product including training modules and best practices Criteria 3: Provide detailed evidence-based assessment tools to evaluate implementation, monitor performance, and identify improvement targets Criteria 4: Demonstrate and model success in collaborating with partner agencies within the integrated national food safety system Criteria 5: Provide a detailed budget for development and implementation of the proposed integrated inspection data management system
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture &Consumer Services, Food and Drug Protection Division proposes to improve public health outcomes by creating an integrated inspection data management system. The project will deploy mobile tablets, mobile broadband technology, and a central database to create a powerful tool for statistical trends analysis of inspection data, interagency information sharing and collaboration, and improved inspection efficiency. Complementary objectives of sustainability, scalability, and portability will promote adoption of the product and broad accrual of public health benefits throughout the national integrated food system.
