Denver, CO – This week, the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) was awarded by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to partner with governmental environmental health programs in state, local, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions nationwide to strengthen their regulatory retail food programs and practices. The funding is the second 3-year cycle the organization has been awarded to assist jurisdictions in preventing foodborne illness.
“We are honored to lead this transformative program to improve food safety” said Dr David Dyjack, NEHA chief executive officer. “Receiving this award reflects the dedication of our team, governmental retail food safety professionals, and the collective outcomes of our first 3-year grant cycle.”
The grant program is designed to support jurisdictions to align their retail food safety practices with the FDA Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (Retail Program Standards). Aligning with the Retail Program Standards is one of the most important steps a jurisdiction can take to advance retail food safety.
The NEHA model combines three previous grant programs into one to make the approaches for grantees more flexible and responsive to a jurisdiction’s capacity and ambitions. In the first 3-year grant cycle, the program provided nearly $25 million to 375 unique jurisdictions across 46 states to improve their retail food safety practices and ultimately protect their communities from foodborne illness.
The FDA award is the second substantial federal cooperative agreement NEHA has been awarded in 2024, following a competitive 5-year award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July to support the knowledge, skills, and expertise of the environmental public health workforce.
“These Investments demonstrate the trust federal agencies have in NEHA’s ability to partner and collaborate with state, local, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions to bring about profound public health improvements,” said Dr. Dyjack.
More information about the NEHA-FDA RFFM Grant Program is available at neha.org/retailgrants.
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The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) represents more than 7,100 governmental, private, academic, and uniformed services sector environmental health professionals in the U.S., its territories, and internationally. NEHA advances the field of environmental health by advocating for evidence-based policies, providing professional development and resources to environmental health practitioners, and promoting research and education.
Environmental health professionals are the backbone of the public health workforce, safeguarding environments and promoting sustainable practices. These highly trained scientists protect vulnerable communities from environmental health risks and contribute to the overall well-being of individuals, families and businesses by ensuring that communities have clean air, safe food and water, and healthy environments to live, work, and play in.
