Speaker's Notes
The 1996 report, Reinventing Food Regulations [National Performance Review] concluded that foodborne illness caused by harmful bacteria and other pathogenic microorganisms in meat, poultry, seafood, dairy products, and a host of other foods is a significant public health problem in the United States In response to the 1996 National Performance Review Report, FDA established the National Retail Food Steering Committee including representation from the Centers for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Divisions of Federal/State Relations (DFSR), Division of Human Resource Development (DHRD) and the Interstate Travel Program (ITP) Field Team. The Steering Committee is responsible for reviewing retail food program objectives and coordinating program activities.
The 1993 Government Performance and Results Act required Federal agencies to develop performance plans that included measurable goals and performance indicators. The level of foodborne illnesses would be the ideal retail food program performance indicator. The occurrence of foodborne illness, however, is grossly underreported which makes it an unreliable program measurement. As an alternative, the occurrence of foodborne illness risk factors was selected as the performance indicator.
