Early Bird Discounts End March 31
2022 AFDO AEC Registration Now Open

This year's AFDO Annual Educational Conference will be co-hosted by the Western Association of Food and Drug Officials in Phoenix, AZ from Saturday through Wednesday, June 11 – 15, 2022.

Get ready for five days of educational sessions focused on five content tracks. Make new connections with peers and find out how they are managing common challenges.

In addition, several training opportunities will be offered the Saturday and Sunday before the conference. Saturday, June 11, will include four workshops to choose from:  The Science and Art of Storytelling, Mutual Reliance in Action - Utilization of State Regulatory Sampling and Lab Analytical Packages, Retail HACCP Validation and Verification, and Retail Active Managerial Controls - Train-the-Trainer. You can view more information on these on the AFDO AEC page.   

Sunday, June 12, will include two committee meetings and the welcome reception for the conference! 

Early Bird registration is open until March 31, so register ASAP to get the discounted rate!  And if you are an AFDO member, your membership includes an additional discount for the annual conference.  Watch your email for your special discount code.

Posted 2/22/22

Come Early. Stay Late.
Experience More Learning at AFDO AEC

They fill up fast so now is the time to book your participation in pre-conference training opportunities and tours.  For an additional $75 each fee beyond the conference registration,   Visit the AFDO Conference Event Page to register for conference and get your seat in these great opportunities listed below. Learn more by clicking here.

• Saturday, June 11 Mutual Reliance in Action - Utilization of State Regulatory Sampling and Lab Analytical Packages
• Saturday, June 11 The Science and Art of Storytelling 
• Saturday, June 11  Retail Active Managerial Controls - Train-the-Trainer
• Saturday, June 11  Retail HACCP Validation and Verification
• Wednesday, June 15  AFDO Cannabis Offsite Tour  is a unique opportunity to increase your awareness and education by touring a cannabis facility but is limited to 50 people so register now.

FDA Announces Infant Formula Recall Guidance

Last Saturday, February 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued agency guidance regarding the voluntary recall of certain lots of infant formula manufactured in Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis, Michigan facility.  For more recall information, please visit https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-warns-consumers-not-use-certain-powdered-infant-formula-produced-abbott-nutritions-facility?ftag=MSF0951a18 .   

The FDA is encouraging state and local agencies to collect and test consumer samples for Cronobacter sakazakii linked to this recall if they meet one of the following conditions:

• The agency has received or is aware of a consumer complaint regarding an infant illness and the illness/complaint is associated with the recalled lots; or
• The agency is aware of a confirmed Cronobacter sakazakii illness in an infant who consumed infant formula from one of the recall lots.

Samples may be sent to the local laboratory, or to an FDA laboratory, for testing.  Product and lot information should be obtained even if physical product samples are unavailable.

The FDA asks that you please communicate and coordinate sample collection and testing efforts with the Division Director and State Liaison assigned to your state. 

Agencies receiving an FDA cooperative agreement, such as the Laboratory Flexible Funding Model and Manufactured Foods Flexible Funding Model, may use these funds to perform this work. 

Please contact your Office of Partnerships Project Manager in FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs if you have any questions about the use of cooperative agreement funds for this activity.  Funds are readily available. 

• For Laboratory Flexible Funding Model: Christina.Chrysogelos@fda.hhs.gov,  Ronald.Winter@fda.hhs.gov, or MeiYing.Li@fda.hhs.gov
• For Manufactured Foods Flexible Funding Model (including Rapid Response Team): James.Betz@fda.hhs.gov or Jocelyn.Ramos@fda.hhs.gov

You may also contact Wendy.Campbell@fda.hhs.gov, (615) 310 - 0483, for questions about the use of cooperative agreement funds, and Barbara Cassens, (510) 418 - 5819, for any questions about this activity.   

Posted 2/22/22

There is Still Time to Register 
Retail HACCP Validation and Verification Course Available

       

Check Out The Past, Present and Future of Food Safety

The January/February 2022 issue of Quality Assurance & Food Safety magazine is live! The tale of food safety through the years offers a chance to learn from the past. Hint:  AFDO played a part as you might guess. From Alexander the Great to the New Era For Smarter Food Safety, the magazine editors say that looking back at food safety can help us get ahead. Here is your chance to read up on landmark moments in food safety, charting food fraud through the years or learning how we got to where we are, this (very) short history on the (very) long story of food safety is a good place to start.

Take the journey here.
 

Registration Now Open
2022 Integrated Foodborne Outbreak Response and Management Conference

 

Scholarship submission is now open! Registration scholarships are available to participants at local, state, or tribal health departments who work in enteric disease surveillance and outbreak response activities. There are many scholarship opportunities available; all are encouraged to apply. Students are eligible for registration scholarships.
 
Please continue to the 2022 InFORM Conference website to review the eligibility requirements and instructions and to submit a registration scholarship application. Scholarship applications must be submitted no later than March 14, 2022 to be considered. All applicants will be notified of scholarship status by March 25, 2022. 
 
ELC funds, if available, should be used to register epidemiologists and PulseNet laboratory scientists for InFORM.

Registration Now Open
Virtual Training Academy for Regulatory Food Inspectors

AFDO is hosting the first of its kind “Inspector Bootcamp” on Mondays, March 28, April 4 & 11. There will be duplicate morning “East Coast” (8:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m. EDT) and afternoon “West Coast” (1-5 p.m. EDT) editions of the course, with limited seats in both. The live virtual training is planned for both retail and manufactured food inspectors (new and seasoned), with presentations on both soft and technical skills and facilitated breakout discussions. The goal is for all participants to share experiences, hear from other inspectors and jurisdictions, learn from each other and network, while gaining additional tools and knowledge to help be better prepared in the field.

During this training, inspectors will:

• Apply more risk-based approaches to conduct quality inspections
• Learn how to leverage evidence to support the writing of accurate, valid reports
• Understand how to identify special processes and review food safety plans
• Improve operator interviewing skills to drive productive conversations and listen more effectively
• Identify the difference between aggression versus violence, and how to de-escalate potential conflicts to create a calmer environment in the field

Who Do You Know?
Nominations for Honorary Membership Now Being Accepted

Please note that for someone who is a member of a Regional Affiliate but not a member of AFDO, their contributions need to be extremely and nationally significant for them to receive serious consideration.

Nominations without a completed nomination form cannot be considered. Please complete the nomination form and send to afdo@afdo.org.  The most recent list of honorary members can be found here so you can review those who have already received this type of membership:

Posted 2/14/22

Save-the-Date
CASA Annual Educational Seminar Set for April

Click Here for a fillable PDF Registration Form

Second Session on Friday!
FDA Schedules Public Meetings on the Proposed Changes to Produce Safety Rule

The public meetings will be held according to the schedule below.  The times for each meeting have been adjusted to provide persons in different regions of the country an opportunity to comment.

Date: Friday, February 25, 2022
Time: 8:45 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. EST
Register for the February 25 Meeting  

Registration is required to attend the virtual meetings. Registered participants will receive details on how and when to view the public meetings online. Questions about the meetings can be directed to Juanita Yates, FDA, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition: e-mail Juanita.Yates@fda.hhs.gov.

Posted 1/10/22

Free Webinar
Learn from the Experiences of an APHL-CDC Fellow

Call Out Your Favorite Food Safety Team
AFDO Grosvenor Food Safety Award Taking Nominations

Established in 2010, the Grosvenor Food Safety Award is given to recognize outstanding achievements made by food safety programs within State Departments of Agriculture, Natural Resource Agencies, Public Health Departments or Environmental Conservation Departments in the United States or Canada. The award will go to the program that best showcases improvement, innovation, or sustained high performance within a food safety program.  Program elements should assess proficiency in strategic planning, managing, and evaluating continuous improvement.  A food safety program could include responsibility for: food safety, food protection, and food defense or food sanitation.

Nominations are due April 1 and will be reviewed by the Elliot O. Grosvenor Food Safety Award Committee.  Self-assessments for program standards may be used to demonstrate progress. This award will be given during the 2022 AFDO Annual Educational Conference scheduled to be held in person this year from June 11 through June 15. 

Updated Deadline April 1
Salute Someone in the Regulatory World with the Corby Award

Do you know a person who has gone above and beyond in their regulatory position during this unusual year? Maybe a field person who has made inspections in person or virtually as a significant portion of their working time.

Nominate them now for the Jacob Joseph Corby Achievement Award. It is the perfect way for you to recognize their performance. The application is easy to fill out and the deadline is April 1, 2022.

The Jacob Joseph Corby Achievement Award is awarded for one or more specific achievements, or for a documented sustained high level of performance. The scope of what counts as an “achievement” is very wide. A few examples of achievements that would be considered are: developing evidence in a difficult case that results in an indictment, conviction, or administrative action; bringing about a measurable improvement in general conditions, e.g., raising test scores on dairy farms or average scores in a group of food establishments; teaching courses that result in more food manager certifications; removing dangerous consumer products from the marketplace; or developing new techniques such as more effective use of computers.

To be eligible for the award, one must be in their first ten years of service as a sanitarian, inspector, investigator, milk specialist, food specialist, radiological health inspector, consumer product safety inspector, laboratory analyst or similar regulatory position. They must be a field person; that is, one who goes out of the office or works virtually to make inspections a significant portion of his or her working time. The winner may not be a supervisor unless the work for which they were nominated was done as a field person and it played a role in the promotion to supervisor. The winner must be employed by a federal, state, county, or municipal regulatory agency, which has at least one employee as a member of AFDO.

The winner will be presented with a framed certificate of achievement and have a choice of receiving a check for $500.00 or a future full conference funding. Conference attendance is not mandatory for receiving the award. 

Posted 2/14/22

Deadline Extended
AFDO Encourages Students Through 
Scholarships

Do you know a college student who is considering a career in food or medical products safety?

The Association of Food and Drug officials offers three $2,500 undergraduate scholarships each spring. To be eligible, students should be a junior with a 3.0 grade average during the first two years of undergraduate study with demonstrated leadership capabilities and a desire to serve in a career of research, regulatory work, quality control, or teaching in an area related to some aspect of foods, drugs, or consumer product safety. 
 

To apply or to encourage someone to apply, in addition to completing an application, an official and complete college transcript must be submitted along with letters of recommendation from two faculty members. Scholarship applications must be submitted by March 31, 2022 to be considered for the current year’s award. 

Application info may be found at: www.afdo.org/grants/afdo-scholarship

Posted 2/14/22

New Dates Announced
Root Cause Analysis for Retail Food Safety Session Offered in 2022

• Determine the underlying reasons for how and why an outbreak/violation(s) occurred
• Provide tools for more effective problem solving
• Data collection tools and analyzation
• Interventions or corrective actions to prevent recurrence

Food Industry Field Scientist 9-P11/Food Safety Inspector - Michigan

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) is currently recruiting for a permanent, full-time Food Industry Field Scientist 9-P11/Food Safety Inspector within the Food and Dairy Division. The Food Safety Inspector (Food Industry Field Scientist) is a field-based position that performs food safety regulatory inspections and related work within an assigned work area. This position requires the incumbent to live in Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb Counties or be willing to relocate within 10 months of hire and is open to all applicants. Interested applicants must apply through NEOGOV.  Closing date is 2/27/2022 11:59 PM Eastern.
 
If you are interested in obtaining more information or applying, click on the link below.

Post 2/22/22

Director - OMDRHO - FDA 

As the primary advisor to the Assistant Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco Operations (ACMPTO), the incumbent is expected to establish scientific policy and policy guidance; provide scientific and technical direction; evaluate research resources; develop and direct OMDRHO programs; develop innovative strategies; advise and represent the ACMPTO; direct the Office, provide leadership to subordinates and oversite of operations and the facility; develop policy and strategy; serve as liaison/coordinator (internationally and with field offices); and develop short/long term goals for the Office of Medical Products and Tobacco Operations.

The Director, OMDRHO is the key point of interface with the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), and the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). Additionally, the incumbent plays a key role in the scientific, investigations, compliance and program offices in both the planning for the use of these resources and is also accountable for the implementation of operational plans.

The Director, OMDRHO is also responsible for providing executive and scientific leadership and assists the ACMPTO, the ACRA, and other senior FDA officials in formulating and developing ORA’s short and long-range goals. This involves the advancing of regulatory programs, promoting an understanding of FDA’s responsibilities for enforcing regulatory standards to protect and promote public health, actions and activities related to FDA medical device and radiological health programs and to resolve complex policy questions and issues that arise.

Supervisory Responsibilities: Manages a multi-disciplinary program, providing leadership and management oversight to 300+ including technical investigators, compliance and other subject matter experts and staff supporting the medical device program and division, investigations and compliance directors.

Post 2/22/22

Paster Training, Inc. 

• Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCHF), Full and Part 2
• Intentional Adulteration Vulnerability Assessment (IAVA)
• Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP), Full and Part 2
• Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs)

• Certified Protection Food Manager (CPFM)
• Food Handler/Food Employee
• HACCP Manager
• HACCP Employee
• Food Defense
• SPANISH TRAINING AVAILABLE!!!!!

EAS Consulting Group Training 

The Food Safety Doctor LLC 

ONLINE Preventive Controls for Human Foods (PCQI) Courses

March 1-3, 2022

Click here to access the schedule of PCQI courses

ONLINE Foreign Supplier Verification Courses (FSVP-QI) Courses

March 15-16, 2022

Click here to access the schedule of FSVP-QI courses

Intentional Adulteration Vulnerability Qualified Individuals (IAVA-QI) Course

February 22, 2022

March 23, 2022

Click here to access the schedule of IAVA-QI courses

Laws and Regulations Committee Update

A collection of current food, drug, device, and consumer product regulatory issues and news