# Developing Arizona's Participation and Conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS)

> **NIH FDA U18** · ARIZONA STATE DEPARTMENT OF HLTH SRVCS · 2020 · $309,510

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This project aims to advance efforts for a nationally integrated food safety system by providing support
for the further development of a manufactured food program in Arizona that focuses on conformance
with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS). The Arizona Department of
Health Services (ADHS) will build on several key objectives initiated during its first year of funding, which
included completing a self‐assessment and complementary strategic improvement plan, entering into a
contract for manufactured food inspections with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and beginning
the process of updating Arizona’s rules and regulations to make them equivalent to the current Federal
requirements for manufactured food.
The project emphasizes the achievement of training goals to ensure ADHS and county regulatory
program staff are well‐trained to perform manufactured food inspections and to ensure the state has
adequate staff between state and county regulatory programs to meet contract requirements for
manufactured food inspections, particularly as the program grows. Proposed training opportunities
include the Food Safety Preventative Controls Alliance training course, administered online, in order to
give the state the opportunity to conduct human PC inspections.
The project also provides for opportunities to meet with the local county health departments in person
each year for the first four years of funding to discuss the developing state manufactured food program,
the counties’ roles within it, the availability of staff training, and the progress in adopting administrative
rules related to manufactured foods. Then, in the final year of funding, the project provides an
opportunity instead for the local county health departments to gather with ADHS at a statewide event
to discuss, strategize and organize efforts around continued conformance with the MFRPS.
ADHS also proposes to enhance its manufactured foods program with funds to enhance its existing Food
Protection Task Force. The state currently organizes quarterly Food Protection Task Force meetings
during which Task Force members give presentations on effective outbreak investigations or examples
of effective coordination among a variety of stakeholders to protect food, discuss current local food
protection issues, and other topics. However, participation is sometimes limited due to the distance
many county partners would need to travel in order to attend in person, and industry does not
participate. The funding will allow the state to host an annual tabletop exercise with funding to
reimburse counties for sending representatives to ensure a high rate of participation despite the
distance many would have to travel to attend the exercise and would extend activities to include a
variety of stakeholders, including industry and academia. The tabletop will enable the Task Force to
practice effective, coordinated food defense response. In addition, ADHS propo...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9961382
- **Project number:** 5U18FD006403-03
- **Recipient organization:** ARIZONA STATE DEPARTMENT OF HLTH SRVCS
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica Reighard
- **Activity code:** U18 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** FDA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $309,510
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9961382

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9961382, Developing Arizona's Participation and Conformance with the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) (5U18FD006403-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9961382. Licensed CC0.

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