The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) promotes food safety by establishing foodprotection standards, investigating complaints, educating food businesses and consumers, andlicensing and inspecting food businesses. We are committed to food safety because weunderstand how important it is to public health, which is why we have been enrolled in theManufactured Foods Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) since 2008. Entering into acooperative agreement will allow our department to better accomplish our goal of significant tofull MFRPS conformance.With funding and support from the FDA, we can develop IT systems so that inspectors' workcan be more fully integrated, add an IT position to provide complete support to themanufactured food program, update and improve our training processes and procedures, createmore outreach programs for both industry and consumers, develop a document managementsystem to support the MFRPS program, and hire a QA Coordinator to design and implementinspection and enforcement audit programs. This cooperative agreement will also support ourcontinued involvement and participation in MFRPS events, conferences, meetings, and audits.Through regular self-assessment, completion of mid-year and annual performance reports, andannually reviewing and updating our five-year strategic plan, we will be able to assess ourprogress and refocus our work, so that at the end of this cooperative agreement, we will havereached signification conformance with the MFRPS.Major progress we will accomplish includes: Hire IT and Quality Assurance Coordinators Develop and implement an inspection audit program Develop and implement a risk-based inspection system Update our Compliance and Enforcement Program and develop a performance review program for enforcement strategies Update and improve our inspector training program
Relevance By participating in a cooperative agreement with the FDA, the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) aims to gain significant to full conformance in the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS). Conformance to these standards means the KDA maintains best practices for a high-quality manufactured food regulatory program. This will contribute to the reduction of foodborne illness hazards, which will help to ensure a safer food supply for the State of Kansas and the entire country.
