The mission of the City of Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) is to ensure that services areavailable to enhance the health of individuals and families, promote healthy neighborhoods, andsafeguard the health of the Milwaukee community. Foodborne illness is a significant publichealth issue, with one out of every six people nationwide experiencing a foodborne illness eachyear resulting in tens of millions of acute illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations,and thousands of deaths each year in the United States. The MHD recognizes that a robustregulatory program is necessary to assure the safety of the food in Milwaukee. In order toassure the adequacy of MHD's regulatory program, MHD seeks to adopt the Voluntary NationalRetail Food Regulatory Standards (VNRFRPS).
The specific aim of the proposed project isto develop a robust regulatory program that meets all of the conditions laid out in theVNRFRPS, by August 31, of 2017. The Milwaukee Health Department will utilize its practicalregulatory experience to apply quality improvement (QI) methodology and public health theory(health education, communication, and community organizing) to regulatory food activities inorder to meet the VNRFRPS. Evaluation will be integrated throughout the project through theutilization of rapid PDSA cycles to review and evaluate programmatic changes. A five memberStandardization Implementation Team will be assembled to lead the overall project.
Foodborne illness is a significant public health issue, with one out of every six people nationwide experiencing a foodborne illness each year resulting in tens of millions of acute illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and thousands of deaths each year in the United States. The Milwaukee Health Department recognizes that a robust regulatory program is necessary to assure the safety of the food in Milwaukee. The Voluntary National Regulatory Program Standards provide a defined set of critical elements necessary to assure an adequate regulatory program is in place, therefore, this proposal outlines how MHD intends to try to meet each of the aforementioned standards.
