TDH, GEH devised four goals. These four goals address how the funds requested from announcement RFA-FD-12-011 will be utilized in achieving conformance with The Voluntary Retail Food Program Standards. During our self assessment of our current Retail Food Program, we found that portions of the Standards had been met, however only Standard 7 was met in its entirety. The other standards have not been met by our organization and require modification in order to align with the Standards minimum requirements. The four goals address how our organization will achieve those Standards. The first goal addresses Standard 2. We found that our current training program requires some modifications to obtain Standard 2. Attainment of Standard 2 is our highest priority. It is essential to this organization and the population it serves, to have a highly qualified workforce. Therefore, the majority of award funding in the first two years will be utilized to implement Standard 2. The second goal is to increase efforts of the organization to improve upon and implement policies and procedures to ensure conformance with the remaining Standards. The third goal addresses establishing and maintaining key stakeholder relationships, including industry consumer groups, academia, and governmental agencies. The final goal addresses program monitoring and reporting. Purpose of Standard 2 implementation: The intent is to develop a skilled staff that is able to conduct proper inspections.
Proper training and use of Standard 2 will provide our Environmentalists the necessary skill set to conduct risk-based inspections with a priority on foodborne illness prevention. They will be able to use this training to educate the establishments so retail food service operators will be better informed of causes of foodbone illnesses and preventative measures. By working together with the establishment owners, the citizens and those visiting Tennessee will be better protected.
