The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), a professional society of governmental, private, academic and uniformed services sector environmental health professionals, has launched a new national assessment aimed at identifying the knowledge and training needs of retail food regulators. The NEHA is asking individuals working in retail regulatory food safety to complete a needs assessment survey, which was developed by NEHA as part of the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model (RFFM) Grant Program. The findings will be used by NEHA to bolster educational resources, reduce knowledge gaps and improve workforce capabilities to help ensure safe retail food for the public.

“This assessment is essentially a national census of the retail food regulatory community. It is significant for both what it includes and who it surveys,” said Rance Baker, director of the Entrepreneurial Zone department at NEHA. “With so many competing interests pursuing the same financial resources, it is important that we determine where the training dollars are needed most. This survey will look at the intersection between curricula and needs in the retail food regulatory community to identify the gaps in the integrated food safety system.”

Complete the survey here.