FDA has released the 2017 edition of the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards. These retail program standards offer recommendations for designing and managing retail food regulatory programs, help regulatory agencies pinpoint areas of improvement for the programs, and enable effective strategies for inspections and foodborne illness prevention.

“The FDA encourages government agencies responsible for regulation or oversight of the retail food establishments that sell, serve or vend food directly to the public to enroll in the Retail Program Standards. Enrollment in the Retail Program Standards conveys a jurisdiction’s intent to actively use the Retail Program Standards as a tool to assess and improve its retail food regulatory program.” – FDA

Changes to the 2017 edition of the retail program standards include:

• Updates to the definition of the training standard
• Clarifying the standardizing and re-standardizing criteria for food safety inspection officers
• Aligning program elements between the Retail Program Standard 4 and Retail Program Standard 2 regarding performance elements and competencies
• Incorporating more methods of communication efforts with industry and the community
• Consolidating report forms and FDA forms 3519 and 3520 into one FDA Form 3598