Program Findings
We have published the following articles highlighting the work of the Grant Program. Our findings can help jurisdictions plan training, advance workforce development and equity, and demonstrate the landscape of retail food safety. These articles are all open access and can be shared or used as references in future publications.
Investing in Retail Food Safety: Assessing the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model Grant Program’s Distribution Through an SDOH Lens
- RFFM investments are being made in socially disadvantaged communities.
- RFFM investments serve to enhance retail food safety and help build and sustain local environmental public health systems.
- Research insights will assist efforts to better target jurisdictions with the greatest need.
Citation: Gill, G., Fahnestock, L., DeVito, R., Somaiya, C.K., Streuli, S., Ramirez, D., Baker, R., Johnstone, A., Dyjack, D., & Randhawa, M. (2023). Investing in retail food safety: Assessing the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model Grant Program’s distribution through an SDOH lens. Journal of Food Protection, 86(12), Article 100181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfp.2023.100181
Decoding Training Needs: Developing a Needs Assessment Tool to Inform Retail Food Safety Workforce Capacity Building
- From July through December 2022, we conducted a national survey of retail food regulatory professionals to determine the training needs of this workforce.
- The needs assessment survey received a total of 2,253 valid responses from jurisdictions throughout the U.S.
- We report on survey development, approaches used to analyze the data, and introduce our forthcoming series of manuscripts on the needs assessment.
Citation: Baker, R., Streuli, S., Gill, G., DeFrancesco, J., Somaiya, C., DeVito, R., Dyjack, D., & Randhawa, M. (2024). Decoding training needs: Developing a needs assessment tool to inform retail food safety workforce capacity building [Editorial]. Journal of Environmental Health, 86(6): 34–38.
Decoding Training Needs: Exploring Demographic Data to Understand Retail Food Regulatory Workforce Composition and Inform Capacity Building
- We conducted a workforce training needs assessment that examined demographic frequencies and associations between demographic factors and job levels.
- Findings indicate an educated workforce, and a high percentage of respondents self-reported that they were age 40 years or older, White, and female.
- Female respondents were significantly less likely than male respondents to hold leadership positions, even when accounting for age, years of experience, and education.
- Our study also shows an underrepresentation of retail food regulatory professionals from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
- Future training should work to fill experience gaps in the field when current employees retire, increase the recruitment of diverse professionals, and support equitable retention and advancement in the field.
Citation: Streuli, S., Gill, G., DeVito, R., Fahnestock, L., DeFrancesco, J., Somaiya, C., Ramirez, D., Baker, R., Dyjack, D., & Randhawa, M. (2024). Decoding Training Needs: Exploring Demographic Data to Understand Retail Food Regulatory Workforce Composition and Inform Capacity Building. Journal of Environmental Health, 86(8): 34–40.