The intended outcome of this FOA is to advance efforts for a nationally integrated food safety system by assisting State manufactured food regulatory programs to achieve and maintain full conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS).
The MFRPS are intended to ensure
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that State manufactured food regulatory programs develop and maintain best practices for a high-quality regulatory program.
Also, the program standards are intended to enhance food safety by establishing a uniform basis for measuring and improving the performance of manufactured food regulatory programs in the United States.
Conformance with these program standards will help Federal and State programs better direct their regulatory activities at reducing foodborne illness hazards in plants that manufacture, process, pack, or hold foods.
In addition, State manufactured food regulatory programs that expect to achieve significant to full conformance with the MFRPS before Year 5 of the cooperative agreement may choose to develop and implement a Standard Enhancement Project (SEP).
The SEP will further enhance the capacity of the State manufactured food regulatory program to protect public health and safeguard the food supply.