Research & Related Other Project Information Project Summary/Abstract Component: Microbiology Track 2 The Food & Drug Protection Division (FDPD) within the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) will support a nationally integrated and prevention-focused food and feed safety system by increasing sample testing activities and making data available to state and federal partners. FDPD Laboratory has partnered with FDPD’s Food Program, North Carolina’s manufactured food regulatory program, to identify commodity-hazard pairs of national and state significance and develop surveillance programs to better characterize the risks these commodity-hazard pairs pose to public health and consumer confidence. In Year 1, FDPD will collect and analyze 500 nut- and seed- butter samples for Listeria spp. Because the FDPD Food Program has fully implemented FDA’s Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards and proposed laboratory analyses are included in FDPD Laboratory’s scope of ISO 17025 accreditation, FDPD is confident that all data submitted to FDA will be accurate, precise, and actionable. Data packages for pathogen-positive samples will be submitted promptly to FDA, and FDPD will collaborate with FDA to identify and implement appropriate response strategies. Non-violative data will be reported to FDA quarterly to support risk evaluations of each hazard-commodity pair.