Innovative Food Defense Projects

The summary for the Innovative Food Defense Projects grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the HHS FDA Special, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Innovative Food Defense Projects: Food defense is a term used to describe activities associated with protecting the nations food supply from intentional contamination. FDA (agency) has adopted 3 broad strategies that encompass its food defense activities: (1) Awareness: Prevention/Preparedness: Increase awareness among Federal, state, local, and tribal governments and the private sector to better 2 understand where the greatest vulnerabilities lie and develop effective protection/mitigation strategies to shield the food supply from intentional contamination; (2) Response: Develop the capacity for a rapid coordinated response to a foodborne terrorist attack; and (3) Recovery: Develop the capacity for a rapid coordinated recovery from a foodborne terrorist attack. In the aftermath of 9/11, the agency utilized an approach known as Operational Risk Management (ORM). ORM involves a determination of which combinations of foods and agents, and where on the farm-to-table continuum, constitute the highest risks of being targeted for attack that may result in a large number of causalities. It is recognized that any food could potentially be contaminated and thus zero-risk foods do not exist. However, based on ORM analysis it was discovered that higher-risk foods do share several common vulnerability factors: Large batch size, which implies a large number of servings; short shelf life, which implies rapid turnaround at retail and rapid consumption; uniform mixing, which would maximize the potential number of contaminated units; and accessibility of a so-called critical node, defined as a process or activity in the farm-to-table chain during which the agent could be added and go undetected. Currently, there is a joint program led by FDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the Department of Homeland Security, in collaboration with private industry and the states known as the Strategic Partnership Program Agroterrorism (SPPA) Initiative. The SPPA was launched in July 2005 and through industry and state volunteers vulnerability assessments are conducted locally in different states on a variety of food commodities in coordination with Federal partners. These assessments not only address a specific food commodity but also facilitate interactions between 3 the Federal, state and local officials that would be involved in a response to a deliberate attack on the food supply. Reports summarizing the results from the first 2 years of SPPA Assessments have been released. The report demonstrates trends seen in processing and agriculturally based commodities and also discusses potential mitigation strategies and research gaps that were identified. The full reports can be viewed at the Center for Food Safety and Nutrition (CFSAN) Web site at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/fooddefense. As we continue to move forward in meeting our food defense goals by increasing preparedness, developing response plans, and ensuring we have the tools to facilitate recovery, we must also integrate these approaches into our existing food safety infrastructure. The overlap between food safety (unintentional contamination) and food defense (intentional contamination) is extensive and the pool of resources available is often the same. Food safety and food defense are ongoing issues and it is critical that these programs be integrated to the maximum extent possible in order to ensure the most efficient use of resources as well as optimizing response to an event. FDA is committed to this approach in order to make optimal use of both human and financial resources to protect public health. As a result, FDA and State field forces may weave components of food defense awareness and education into food safety inspections. FDA encourages other stakeholders to consider the possibilities of incorporating food defense ideas into their food safety related programs. FDA has relied on the States in assisting with these activities through formal contracts, partnership agreements, and other arrangements. Under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, the demands on both the agency and the States have increased. 4 Procedures need to be reviewed and innovative changes need to be made. These changes should increase effectiveness and efficiency and conserve resources. CFSAN will continue to support food defense programs by providing high quality, science-based work that result in maximizing consumer protection. FDA believes that these grants will be able to generate significant innovative projects and products that will benefit State and local governments, FDA, the industry, and the general public in the areas of food defense just as past awards have benefited all stakeholders in food safety. It is anticipated that innovative food defense programs and concepts that are developed at the State and local levels could enhance programs that are developed at the Federal level. To view past innovative food safety awards that have been generated out of this work you can view the ORA Web site at http:// www.fda.gov/ora/fed_state/Innovative_Grants.html. A. Project Emphasis The specific goal of this program is to generate products that complement, develop, or improve State and local food defense programs and that these could be applied to food defense programs nationwide. Examples of food defense projects are: The ALERT Food Defense Awareness Initiative, Food Defense Surveillance Assignments, Food Emergency Response Network (FERN: federal and state laboratories), and SPPA Initiative. Applications that address food defense projects and fulfill the following specific project objectives will be considered for funding. Each application must address only one project. Applicants may apply for more than one project area, but must submit a separate application for each project. If an applicant should receive a fundable score on more than one topic area only the application with the highest score will be awarded. These grants 5 are not to be used to fund or conduct food inspections for food safety regulatory agencies. No more than 10 percent of the total award can be used to conduct food safety/food defense exercises. Food safety agencies may subcontract up to 25 percent of the award to educational institutions for assistance with development of food defense awareness education projects and materials and training. There are three key project areas identified for this effort: 1. Innovative Food Defense Plan Integration One key project area is the development of innovative template food defense plans and associated programs that could be integrated with established food safety programs, including continuous improvement plans for the protection of various food establishments in order to improve food defense effectiveness and efficiency. Innovative food defense programs and methodology projects must demonstrate an effect on factors that contribute to awareness, preparedness, early response, and recovery in all, or a segment of, food industry programs. For example, projects could address key elements from the ALERT Initiative. This initiative details five key points that the food industry can use to decrease the risk of intentional food contamination. The ALERT initiative is derived from the FDA Food Security Guidance documents written for specific segments of the food industry. These proposals should focus on providing efficient and effective food defense awareness communications and/or have an effect on factors that contribute to a potential intentional food contamination. Information relative to the ALERT initiative can be found at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/fooddefense. 6 2. Education and Awareness Information Dissemination Another key project area is the development of innovative food defense awareness education projects and materials for State and local food safety and food defense regulatory officials that foster consistency and uniform application of State and local food regulations. These education projects and/ or materials must be reproducible by other State and local food safety regulatory agencies. These projects may incorporate concurrent education of both State and local food safety and food defense regulatory agencies and the food industry and must be consistent with the ALERT Initiative messages. 3. Innovative Food Defense Training FDA recognizes that there are a number of new technologies and methods for distance learning and training that may be applicable to the food industry and relevant stakeholders in relation to food defense. FDA also recognizes that Federal, state, and local officials should be able to identify, in a general sense, potential risks, in relation to food defense in food industry establishments. They should also be able to encourage food defense awareness in the employees and management of food industry establishments. Innovative food defense training efforts are needed so that all stakeholders will have an increased awareness of the threat of intentional contamination of the U.S. food supply. Relevant stakeholders should also understand their unique responsibilities in reducing the risk of intentional contamination of the food supply. Innovative food defense training must also be consistent with the ALERT initiative messages.