Survey Study -- Current State and Local Government Agencies

Appendix B

INSERT DATE:

Dear State or Local Food or Feed Official,

You are receiving this request for information because, as the Program Director, you are considered one of the most knowledgeable officials in your agency. As the Program Director, you also have the ability to draw upon various personnel resources that may be apt to answering specific program questions. FDA is asking for your input in this survey of information regarding your food or feed program.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), under Section 205(c)2, requires that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conduct a review of State and local capacities in order to develop and enhance the food safety and defense capacities of State and local agencies. The development and implementation of the strategies will help achieve the goals under an integrated food safety system to improve foodborne illness outbreak response, accelerate foodborne illness surveillance, strengthen inspection capacity of State and local agencies, improve the effectiveness of partnerships across governments to coordinate food safety and defense resources, and share information on a timely basis. The review is required to include both the current capacities as well as the current needs of State and Local regulatory agencies in terms of: staffing and expertise to perform food safety functions; staffing and expertise to perform food defense* functions; laboratory capacity to support surveillance, outbreak response, inspection and enforcement; and information systems to support data management and exchange among regulatory agencies.

After evaluating existing reports and surveys related to the topic areas above, FDA concluded it was necessary to conduct a survey that would provide more timely and complete information. The survey is sectioned into four key areas where the additional information is needed: Food and Feed Safety (Section 1),; Food Defense (Section 2), Information Technology (Section 3), and Interagency Agreements (Section 4). The survey development group will analyze the information gathered to determine gaps and report the findings to the appropriate groups that are working on the FSMA requirements specific to building food safety and defense capacity at the State and local level.

FDA, in collaboration with our partners, will use this information to develop strategies to help food inspection agencies enhance food and feed safety, food defense, laboratories, staffing and capacity, and information systems (IT) for their agencies

FDA has partnered with the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) to administer the current survey. FDA and AFDO kindly ask that you complete this survey within 2 weeks of receipt. The survey should be returned to AFDO using the directions stated below. AFDO will compile the results and provide to the FDA for analysis.

Thank you,

*Food defense is not the same as food safety. Food defense focuses on protecting the food supply from intentional contamination from chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agents. Intentional acts are generally hard to predict. Food safety addresses the accidental contamination of food products by biological, chemical, or physical hazards. This unintentional contamination of food products can be reasonably anticipated based on the type of processing.

(Food and Agriculture Sector Specific Plan, 2010, pg. 11) http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodDefense/FoodDefensePrograms/UCM243043.pdf

DIRECTIONS to complete the survey:

This survey is converted into an Adobe PDF form that can be completed using the free Adobe Reader software found at www.adobe.com. 

• The Program Director that is most knowledgeable of the Food/Feed Inspection Program is the targeted respondent and who should complete this survey.

• The survey should be completed on behalf of the agency. If possible, coordinate data from other divisions or sections if necessary within the agency and submit only one (1) survey form per agency.

• If you need to send a partially completed survey to another employee please click File > Save As and save a copy to your hard drive (e.g. Desktop, My Computer). Then open a new email message and attach the partially completed survey

• If parts of the survey do not apply, or are not within your agency’s scope of jurisdiction, simply leave them blank.

• When completed, click on the Submit Form Button and the form will be automatically submitted to the appropriate party.

• If you encounter difficulties using the Submit Form Button, please attach your completed survey to a new email message and send to survey@afdo.org.

• If you have questions about the survey or need further clarification, submit your questions to survey@afdo.org