FDA-FERN MICROBIOLOGICAL COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT CONTINUATION PROGRAM (U18) GRANT PROPOSALProject SummaryThis grant proposal from the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) is inresponse to a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) from the Food andDrug Administration (FDA) Food Emergency Response Network (FERN).The goal of this proposal is to enhance the surge capacity and the capability ofthe FERN for the detection of microbiological pathogens in response to a foodborne disease outbreak or a large scale food emergency event. The purpose ofthis application from ODA's Consumer Protection Laboratory's (CPL) FoodMicrobiology laboratory is to complement, develop, improve and utilize thecapacity and capability of the laboratory in response to an event during whichlaboratory surge capacity is needed. Support will be provided to FERN and theFDA for analyses related to microbiological contamination, resulting from eitherintentional or unintentional introduction with availability of a 24 hour - 7 days aweek response.This proposal addresses the three key project areas that FDA has identified asthe critical functions integral to this project. As part of the proposal, a detailedview of the laboratory facilities is provided and supplemented with details of thelaboratory support services and the campus security plan. To implement theprojects outlined in the proposal, the qualifications and the work experience ofCPL's staff is also presented. Additionally, the laboratory management practicesare also explained in great detail.This grant proposal also addresses the FDA request for sample analysiscommitment as well as the laboratory's ability and willingness to enter data intoeLEXNET and notify FERN of analytical results in a timely manner.Several additional documents such as the Proficiency Testing Schedule (PT)have been provided along with the project narrative that showcase thelaboratory's ability to provide the capacity and capability for conducting thesurveillance testing as well as large scale outbreak testing for FERN.
