Project Summary/Abstract Given the large impact of New Mexico's food manufacturing industry, providing high quality, consistent inspections based on the scientific principles of food safety is paramount to protecting New Mexicans and consumers throughout the nation and world. Furthermore, the ability to identify and respond quickly to public health events impacting New Mexico through a well- planned and coordinated Rapid Response Team (RRT) is paramount to preventing the spread and/or continuation of public health related events. In addition to Several large food processors have operations in New Mexico (NM) including: General Mills, Kraft, Coca Cola, Santa Fe Tortilla Company, Bueno Foods, Border Foods, and Albuquerque Tortilla Company, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED-EHB) has experienced a substantial surge in the number of small local producers seeking to begin food manufacturing. In 2015 NMED-EHB identified an inability to keep up with the growing number of questions and requests to provide assistance and speak to various groups or to develop a program conforming with the MFRPS. Since obtaining “MFRPS cooperative agreement” in 2015, NMED-EHB has made significant progress in conforming with the MFRPS by achieving conformance with five standards and through the expansion of staffing, has been able to begin providing assistance to new and existing food manufacturers throughout the state. In addition to having adequate resources and time to respond to questions, applications, plan reviews, operational plans, recalls, training requests, and fulfilling staff training requirements, NMED-EHB now also able to provide scientifically, risk-based inspections with a small team of properly trained and audited inspection staff. Raising the level of staffing and eduation/training of this team has proven immediately beneficial to NM-produced manufacturing as the team has discovered significant issues previously undiscovered by other staff conducting manufactured food inspections. Corrections are being handled in a timely manner in accordance with SOPs. NMED-EHB anticipates participation in the Flexible Funding Model Cooperative Agreement will result in further increasing the effectiveness of protecting public health nationwide and will result in full conformance with the MFRPS by the completion of Y2 of this agreement. After conformance is achieved in Y2, NMED-EHB anticipates maintaining conformance with the MFRPS through established monitoring practices and will strive to continually improve through envisioned continuous improvement initiatives. This will be oaccomplished by the following: • The State will achieve, monitor, and successfully sustain full conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) by completion of Y2; • The State will actively engage through an annual face-to-face meeting and participation in committees supporting MFRPS; • The State has and will collaboratively develop strategies and share tho...