Kentucky Department for Public Health-Division of Public Health Protection & Safety Food Safety Branch Project Summary/Abstract RE: Development and Maintenance of Human and Animal Food Rapid Response Teams (U2F) Clinical Trials Not Allowed (Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number RFA-FD-23- 019). Kentucky has seen a rise in the number of foodborne outbreaks, activations, and recalls (on a national level). In order to maintain our current RRT structure, which is designed to rapidly detect and respond to foodborne outbreaks and other activation events, we are seeking continued funding to support maintenance and enhancement of our state RRT program. Specific priorities during the 2023-2026 Period of Performance will be to extend support and develop our efforts to rapidly detect outbreaks and respond to additional activation events in order to protect public health. Maintain and further develop our state’s new food complaint system so our RRT program can effectively and comprehensively identify and respond to previously undetected outbreaks. Kentucky’s RRT structure includes a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team that operates using Incident Command System (ICS)/National Incident Management System (NIMS) principles and a Unified Command structure to respond to human and animal food emergencies. Our agency aims to maintain the written framework for KY RRT SOPs and MOUs, update our sustainability assessment, continue organizing meetings focused on improvement with RRT team members and mentors, and learn from outbreaks to better respond to future events. To further the innovation, integration, and national capacity development, the KY RRT Program will utilize federal funding to continue collaborating with state partners in the development of Food Complaint Systems (FCS) modeled after the KY FCS. The KY RRT Program also intends to schedule multiple training and outreach events with stakeholders in order to increase our capability to respond to human and animal food emergencies. The KY RRT program will enhance data sharing capacities by gathering and sharing foodborne outbreak data with relevant KY regulatory agencies and our state/federal partners in order to protect Public Health. Outbreak data will also be shared with local health departments (LHDs) to heighten responsiveness. Funding from this grant opportunity is aimed at supporting state and national prevention efforts, in that KY RRT will enter data obtained from LHD investigations into the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS) while our Epidemiology partners enter data into the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS). The KY RRT Program will communicate its impact through outreach by providing annual presentations at the local, state, and national level to meet the requirements detailed in the Funding Opportunity Announcement.