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  1. Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Retail Food Safety Association Collaboration Cooperative Agreement Program

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What is the Retail Food Safety Association Collaboration Cooperative Agreement Program?

The intended outcome of this cooperative agreement is leveraging the resources and strengths of national retail food safety associations to collaboratively advance retail food protection and reduce foodborne illness. The resulting cooperative agreements will provide additional support to advance retail food safety by reviewing existing research on the effectiveness of intervention strategies designed to reduce foodborne illness risk factors, conducting research to assess the current use of intervention strategies by state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) retail food regulatory programs and industry, developing outreach programs to promote use of effective intervention strategies and other best practices, promoting implementation and full conformance of the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS) by SLTT jurisdictions, supporting full adoption of the most recent FDA Food Code, and improving foodborne illness outbreak response.

What are its goals?

  • Identify and assess industry intervention strategies designed to reduce foodborne illness risk factor occurrence. Includes developing evaluation criteria.
  • Conduct field testing of regulatory intervention strategies designed to reduce foodborne illness risk factor occurrence. 
  • Building on FDA’s service delivery strategy, develop a nationally integrated strategy to provide “multiplier effect” for Retail Program Standards technical assistance.
  • Aid jurisdictions that need additional assistance to implement the Retail Program Standards.
  • Assess application of risk-based inspections by state, local, territorial, and tribal (SLTT) regulatory jurisdictions.
  • Promote and connect available resources among SLTTs and other retail stakeholders.
  • Develop a strategy to better tell the story of retail food protection. 
  • Issue joint recommendations on emerging issues.
  • Support Food Code adoption by developing a Food Code adoption implementation and sustainability tool kit. 

Who are the current awardees?

  • The Association for State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) have been awarded this cooperative agreement.
  • Up to $4M in funding under this cooperative agreement program.  

Who can I contact for more information?

Specific questions on this program can be directed to the appropriate Office of Partnerships' contact within the Division of Partnership Investments and Agreements. Please visit the Office of Partnerships Contacts webpage to obtain a downloaded version of the staffing roster.

You can also find contact information and more on the funding opportunity announcement.

Please visit the Retail Food Safety Regulatory Association Collaborative's website for more information.

General questions can be directed to the Office of Partnerships' general mailbox: op.feedback@fda.hhs.gov.

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