P35: Local Collaboration: A Universal Food Safety Monitoring and Evaluation Tool

Abstract

Food safety monitoring of food pantries by multiple resource providers was streamlined by collaborating government agencies and non-government organizations. Nutrition educators provided guidance on the emergency food system and health department sanitarians shared expertise on regulatory agency requirements. The development of a food safety monitoring tool with an operations manual created the framework for the implementation of a universal food pantry monitoring system to protect public health and ensure food safety in emergency food recipient organizations. All resource providers followed established standards and guidelines on food receiving, food storage – dry and refrigerated, food protection, food safety education and physical site evaluation. Monitoring visits are scheduled and outcomes recorded in a shared database of over 1,000 emergency food programs. A parallel process to record regulatory agency observations during soup kitchen inspections completes the information sharing. A communication system, triggered by monitoring results uploaded into the database, provides timely feedback to key personnel on required and recommended actions to protect public health and promote safe food handling. Food safety trends are observed for compliance issues and serve as a guide for additional food safety education. The goals to convey shared messages, promote food safety education, achieve compliance with regulatory agency requirements and promote public health were achieved. This is a model program for food safety monitoring of emergency food programs. Nutrition educators can adapt this system for their local community. Partial funding was provided by the New York State Department of Health, Division of Nutrition, Hunger Prevention & Nutrition Assistance Program.