Wonderful Washington

The federal funding has allowed Washington State the opportunity to hire additional staff for its efforts to address food and feed safety, Bautista points out. “WSDA is continually complimented by its industry and regulatory partners on the relationship it has with their regional FDA district office,” she emphasizes. “This relationship has been built through continual efforts of the Feed/RRP, the FPTF, the Partnership for Food Protection, the Association for Food and Drug Officials, and federal and state contract activities.”

In addition to building and maintaining a relationship with the WSDOH and FDA Seattle District Office, WSDA has been able to build relationships with local health jurisdictions, and the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Bautista adds.

“These relationships improve communication and coordination, while ultimately improving food safety in Washington State,” she says. “For one example, the food safety regulatory agencies in Washington State have worked to establish a Food Emergency Resource and Response Guide, which documents authorities and contacts.”

Outreach
The WSDA professionals believe outreach to industry can help prevent outbreaks and pare down response time in food and feed emergencies. “Therefore, WSDA uses federal funding to improve our ability to provide outreach to industry,” Bautista mentions. “To that end, some of our recent activities in Washington include a small dairies recall and response workshop, a recall readiness workshop for the produce industry, a food allergen preventive control workshop, Qualified Individual Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance training, and Good Agricultural Practices workshops for small farms.”

In addition to all of these workshops, FSCSD staff members are frequently asked to speak at food and feed safety programs throughout the state. Topics include incident management and the Feed/RRP, recall planning, food processor licensing requirements, cottage food processor requirements, feed substance regulations, the Veterinary Feed Directive, and FSMA Preventive Controls for Human and Animal Food.

The FSCSD has created a plethora of written outreach materials for the food industry. Among these is the Small Farms and Direct Marketing Handbook (aka “Greenbook”), which includes a section on regulations for food processing and specific products.

Other popular human and animal food safety resources that WSDA provides to industry, be it in print, on its website, or on flash drives, include FDA’s Guidance for Industry: Product Recalls, Including Removals and Corrections, Reportable Food Registry at a Glance, the WSDA sample recall plan, the FDA Bad Bug Book, the USDA FSIS Introduction to the Microbiology of Food Processing, the Food Allergy Research and Resource Plan Components of an Effective Allergen Control Plan, the FDA Food Labeling Guide, the Grocery Manufacturer Association’s Managing Allergens in Food Processing Establishments, and the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management Milk and Dairy Beef Drug Residue Prevention Producer Manual of Best Management Practices.

The WSDA FSP has incorporated programs that previously operated independently, according to Michael Tokos, FSP assistant manager. “In the 1990s, separate dairy and meat inspection programs were merged into the FSP,” Tokos explains. “Since then, to improve efficiencies and services, the FSP incorporated the egg and feed programs.” (However, feed is currently operating as an independent program again, since the FSP has been overloaded with other changes and priorities).

According to Tokos, the FSP continues to expand into new food production scenarios, such as cottage foods, low risk products made in home kitchens, and the aforementioned marijuana infused edibles for which the state Liquor Control Board contracts the FSP to conduct sanitation inspections.

“Additionally, the FSP is continually improving its capacity through coordination with the RRT, and development of the MFRPS, and FSMA Preventive Controls, where all of these activities have increased the FSP’s standardization and coordination with FDA,” Tokos says.