Issue View | Council II | 2018 Biennial Meeting

This is a brand new Issue.

PSC 3 - Continue Revision of VNRFRPS Standard 8 Staffing Level Criteria

The Program Standards Committee has addressed the charges outlined in Issue 2014 II-020: Reevaluation of FDA Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS), Standard 8. The Committee has proposed a recommendation that the Program Standards Committee, a CFP standing committee, and the FDA internal Program Standards working group continue to collaborate on modifying the Standard 8 "Staffing Level" criteria using a new calculation / formula based on the findings of the 2016 - 2018 Program Standards Committee, Standard 8 Subcommittee.

Subcommittee report titled: Re-evaluation of VNRFRPS Standard 8 Subcommittee Report has been submitted as a supporting attachment to Issue titled: Report - Program Standards Committee (PSC).

The FDA Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS) offer a systematic approach to, through a continuous improvement process, enhance retail food regulatory programs. The VNRFRPS define and provide a framework designed to accommodate both traditional and emerging approaches of regulatory programs operating within an integrated food safety system. The Program Standards Committee established a subcommittee to address the specific charges in Issue 2016 II-020. The subcommittee, with support from staff with Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services, distributed a total of three surveys to enrolled jurisdictions who have made progress with the VNRFRPS Standards except Standard 8.

The information collected provides the foundation to support further work on Standard 8 by:

(1) Helping to identify barriers to jurisdictions that have not met Standard 8 (including barriers other than the current FTE/Inspection ratio);

(2) Developing an approach that maintains the goal of the VNRFRPS to measure "where an enrollee wants to be" rather than "where an enrollee is" by comparing "highly performing" regulatory food program enrollees (those who have met six or more of the nine Standards) with enrollees who have met fewer than six Standards;

(3) Using data provided by VNRFRPS enrollees to drive and establish a more statistically sound logic model for the FTE/Inspection ratio that considers technological advancements in industry and efficiency improvements within local and state food regulatory programs; and

(4) Devising and proposing a new formula to calculate Standard 8 "Staffing Level" that is scalable to jurisdictions of all sizes.

that the Program Standards Committee, a CFP standing committee, be charged with the following during the 2018-2020 biennium:

1. Continue to collaborate with the FDA internal Program Standards working group on modifying the "Description of Requirements" for "Staffing Level" in Standard 8 of the FDA Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS);
2. Use the supporting attachments listed in the 2016 - 2018 Program Standards Committee, Standard 8 Subcommittee report as the foundation to establish a more statistically sound logic model for the FTE (full-time equivalent) / Inspection ratio and provide the new calculation/formula to be used by a VNRFRPS enrollee to assess the Standard 8 "Staffing Level";
3. Propose amendments to Standard 8 of the VNRFRPS and the CFP guidance document titled "Standard 8 Staffing Level Assessment Workbook" and accompanying "Instruction Guide" to incorporate the outcomes of Charges 1 and 2; and
4. Report back committee findings and recommendations to the 2020 Biennial Meeting.