Ordinance 71352

Summary

This Board Bill authorizes the Department of Health (the “DOH”) to accept a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) Foundation award (CDC-RFA-OT18-1802) funding of Two Thousand Eight Hundred Dollars ($2800) through a contract with the National Environmental Health Association (“NEHA”) as part of an Explorer Contract Grant to reimburse DOH during the period of April 1, 2021 through July 31, 2021 for the purpose of supporting food safety program activities, designed to explore involvement in CDC’s National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (“NEARS”), with such activities including: • Staff time to learn about NEARS, such as o Taking Environmental Assessment Training Series (EATS) or equivalent training course as identified by NEHA to conduct environmental assessments o Participating in a NEARS webinar training session o Attending a regional or national NEARS presentation • Purchase of environmental sampling/other investigation equipment to build capacity in foodborne outbreak investigation • Activities that encourage local programs within the state to participate. This training of Food and Beverage Inspectors at DOH will increase capacity to utilize the CDC NEARS for food-borne illness outbreaks associated with retail prepared food establishments such as restaurants, banquet facilities, schools, and other institutions in order to: • Identify environmental causes of outbreaks; • Take follow-up action to reduce or prevent future foodborne illness outbreaks; • Evaluate the DOH food safety program and make improvements based on established guidelines; • Develop or modify program policies and/or regulations; • Focus limited program resources on actions with the highest impact; and • Meet the Food and Drug Administration’s Retail Food Program Standard 5.

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