Conference for Food Protection

At the 2012 Biennial Meeting, the Conference created the Emergency Action Plan Committee with the following charges:

(1) Review and update the CFP Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments and that the committee be charged to:

1. review and update the CFP Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments where appropriate;

2. incorporate the criteria from Issue 2012 III-021 into the CFP Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments;

3. report back to the CFP at the 2014 Biennial Meeting with a recommendation to accept the revised plan; and

4. recommend that FDA include reference to the CFP Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments in Annex 2 of the Food Code.

(2) Include a review and recommendations for situations such as catastrophic natural or man-made disasters, and provisions for handwashing in accordance with emergency guidance documents.

The Committee has taken the following actions on the charges given to it and will be making the following recommendations:

1. The Committee has reviewed the CFP Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments document and is recommending replacement with the attached Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments, Second Edition;

2. The Committee has reviewed and incorporated the criteria from Issue 2012 III-021 regarding time and temperature control during a power outage into the new Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments, Second Edition;

3. The Committee has created a report to the CFP for the 2014 Biennial Meeting with a recommendation to accept the new guidance document in a separate issue;

4. The Committee is making a recommendation that FDA include a reference to the CFP Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments, Second Edition in Annex 2 of the 2013 Food Code in a separate issue.

5. Emergency hand washing provisions have been created and standardized throughout the guidance document.

References:

The previous guidance document accepted at the 2008 CFP biennial meeting (Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments) is available for comparison on the CFP web site at www.foodprotect.org under the Conference-Developed Guides and Documents tab:

http://www.foodprotect.org/media/guide/EmergencyActionPlanforRetailFoodEstablishments2008.pdf

During disasters or emergency events, it may be necessary to provide food to those affected by the emergency event even though establishments providing food may not meet all FDA Food Code requirements. The Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments, Second Edition document provides guidance to ensure food served at these times is done in a safe and sanitary manner.

The Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments, Second Edition document provides minimum requirements that must be met to ensure the service and sale of safe food during these emergency events. In order to get widest availability of this information to the industry and regulatory communities the Committee is recommending that the Guidance document be both posted on the CFP website and included in Annex 2 of the FDA Food Code.

Regarding the request to develop an alternative emergency hand washing procedure, we initially decided to defer to the Hand Hygiene Committee which was working on this issue. We felt it would be best to let them create the procedure and then we would incorporate it into our guidance document. Since the Hand Hygiene Committee was unable to reach consensus on this issue we created our own procedure for emergency hand washing and included it into the guidance document. Our procedure does require the use of soap and water and discusses when and where hand washing facilities are needed and should be located. We did not develop or include a non-water based hand washing alternative.

1. That the report of the Committee be acknowledged and the Committee members be given a vote of thanks for their committee service and their diligent efforts and dedication to the review and creation of the new Emergency Action Plan for Retail Food Establishments, Second Edition document; and

2. That the Committee be disbanded.