National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) RFA-FD-16-019 Supporting, Assessing, and Promoting the Roles of Health Departments in Retail Food Safety Regulation” Project Summary/Abstract The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is a membership organization, representing approximately 2,800 local health departments (LHDs) nationwide. NACCHO strives to protect and improve the health of all Americans by assisting and engaging LHDs in promoting national public health policy, developing resources and programs, seeking health equity, and supporting effective local public health practice and systems. An integral piece of this mission is devoted to food safety, achieved through NACCHO's promotion around the role of LHDs in food safety regulation and contributing toward an integrated food safety system, in collaboration with federal and partner agencies. The proposed five-year initiative lays out five key goals which will further assist LHDs as leaders in food safety regulation. These include: (1) increasing participation and conformance of local and state health departments nationwide to the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (Retail Program Standards); (2) examining how food regulatory authority is exercised at the local level; (3) exploring how retail food regulatory programs categorize and inspect establishments by risk; (4) assessing how local and state health departments are using the Retail Program Standards and identifying best practices; and (5) ensuring LHDs understand the role they play in various regulatory food-related policy issues. NACCHO's Food Safety Workgroup (12 LHD representatives from diverse geographical locations and jurisdictional sizes) and its Food Safety Leaders of over 100 individuals representing health departments, the food industry, and academia from across the nation will inform the five-year initiative in an effort to help identify priorities for NACCHO's food safety program and relevant policy updates. Under the guidance of these groups and the FDA, NACCHO will develop tools essential for LHDs to better conform to the Retail Program Standards and improve food safety regulation. This five-year plan will also allow NACCHO to share stories of successful implementation based on the efforts of innovative leaders engaged through this initiative, while strengthening the robust peer network cultivated through the mentorship program, communications infrastructure, and workshops. Through systematic reviews, roundtable discussions, key informant interviews, NACCHO will deepen the understanding of how retail food regulatory programs exercise their authority and assign the risk of retail food establishments to determine frequency of inspections. With the Food Safety Modernization Act's rules coming into effect, NACCHO will also explore how these rules will impact the roles LHDs play and share best practices.