Berkshire Public Health Alliance Project Abstract Massachusetts is a home rule state with no county government. Each community regardless of size is responsible for all public health mandates, including food safety. The Berkshire Public Health Alliance (Alliance) is a collaboration among 23 small Berkshire, Massachusetts communities, their Boards of Health and Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC), the administrative and fiscal host, which have signed an Inter- Municipal Agreement to leverage resources and share staff, programs and grants. The goal is for Alliance communities to work towards meeting all nine Retail Program Standards. This project will focus on improving food safety by meeting Retail Program Standards #1: Regulatory Foundation; #3: Inspection Program based on HACCP Principles; and #4: Uniform Inspection Program, although elements of all nine Standards will be essential to meeting these three Standards. The Project Objectives are to: 1. Establish a common operating picture and regulatory foundation among Alliance communities consistent with Massachusetts State law and Retail Program Standards. 2. Create a regional, coordinated, uniform online permitting program for retail food that is consistent with Massachusetts State law and Retail Program Standards. 3. Create a regional uniform food safety inspection program based on HACCP principles that is consistent with Massachusetts State law and Retail Program Standards. This project will focus on creating a uniform, regional, online permitting and inspection program based on HACCP principles. Food safety is a priority in all Alliance communities as Berkshire County is a major holiday and children?s camp destination. Online permitting and inspections projects help ensure a uniform, compliant food safety program. By connecting and coordinating food permitting and inspection programs in 23 small, rural towns; the region will collectively be able to meet Retail Program Standards to improve regional food safety and ensure the public health. In addition to online permitting and inspections, the project will work to train local food inspectors to a uniform standard and ensure consistency by rotating inspection staff working in each community among all participating communities. An Alliance Sanitarian and a FDA standardized food inspector/trainer will supervise staff training and inspections.
Ensuring retail food safety is the legal obligation of each of the 351 local Boards of Health in Massachusetts regardless of size or available resources. In rural Berkshire County, Massachusetts, even the smallest of towns may have extensive public health responsibilities due to a strong tourist and second home owner economy. This project will allow public health officials in at least nine Berkshire County towns to standardize their regulatory food environment, support uniform risk-based retail food operations and management standards, build a regional public health online and risk-based permitting and inspection infrastructure, train food inspectors to a uniform standard, implement common application and inspection forms and create a regional expectation and understanding of food safety that supports the FDA Voluntary Retail Food Program Standards, improving local food safety.
