The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) promotes food safety by establishing food protection standards, investigating complaints, educating food businesses and consumers, and licensing and inspecting food businesses. We are committed to food safety because we understand how important it is to public health, which is why we have been enrolled in the Manufactured Foods Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) since 2008. Entering into a cooperative agreement will allow our department to better accomplish our goal of significant to full MFRPS conformance. With funding and support from the FDA, we can develop IT systems so that inspectors' work can be more fully integrated, add an IT position to provide complete support to the manufactured food program, update and improve our training processes and procedures, create more outreach programs for both industry and consumers, develop a document management system to support the MFRPS program, and hire a QA Coordinator to design and implement inspection and enforcement audit programs. This cooperative agreement will also support our continued involvement and participation in MFRPS events, conferences, meetings, and audits. Through regular self-assessment, completion of mid-year and annual performance reports, and annually reviewing and updating our five-year strategic plan, we will be able to assess our progress and refocus our work, so that at the end of this cooperative agreement, we will have reached 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.
