# Supporting, Assessing, and Promoting the Roles of Health Departments in Retail Food Safety Regulation

> **NIH FDA U50** · NATIONAL ASSN /CNTY/CITY/HLTH/OFFICIALS · 2020 · $800,000

## Abstract

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.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9987322
- **Project number:** 5U50FD005933-05
- **Recipient organization:** NATIONAL ASSN /CNTY/CITY/HLTH/OFFICIALS
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer Li
- **Activity code:** U50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** FDA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $800,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9987322

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9987322, Supporting, Assessing, and Promoting the Roles of Health Departments in Retail Food Safety Regulation (5U50FD005933-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9987322. Licensed CC0.

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