Kentucky's Application for RRT

Kentucky Department for Public Health-Division of Public Health Protection & Safety
Food Safety Branch Project Summary/Abstract
RE: Development and Maintenance of Human and Animal Food Rapid Response Teams (U2F)
Clinical Trials Not Allowed (Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number RFA-FD-23-
019).
Kentucky has seen a rise in the number of foodborne outbreaks, activations, and recalls (on a national level). In
order to maintain our current RRT structure, which is designed to rapidly detect and respond to foodborne
outbreaks and other activation events, we are seeking continued funding to support maintenance and
enhancement of our state RRT program. Specific priorities during the 2023-2026 Period of Performance will be to
extend support and develop our efforts to rapidly detect outbreaks and respond to additional activation events in
order to protect public health. Maintain and further develop our state’s new food complaint system so our RRT
program can effectively and comprehensively identify and respond to previously undetected outbreaks.
Kentucky’s RRT structure includes a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary team that operates using Incident Command
System (ICS)/National Incident Management System (NIMS) principles and a Unified Command structure to
respond to human and animal food emergencies. Our agency aims to maintain the written framework for KY RRT
SOPs and MOUs, update our sustainability assessment, continue organizing meetings focused on improvement
with RRT team members and mentors, and learn from outbreaks to better respond to future events. To further
the innovation, integration, and national capacity development, the KY RRT Program will utilize federal funding to
continue collaborating with state partners in the development of Food Complaint Systems (FCS) modeled after the
KY FCS. The KY RRT Program also intends to schedule multiple training and outreach events with stakeholders in
order to increase our capability to respond to human and animal food emergencies.
The KY RRT program will enhance data sharing capacities by gathering and sharing foodborne outbreak data with
relevant KY regulatory agencies and our state/federal partners in order to protect Public Health. Outbreak data
will also be shared with local health departments (LHDs) to heighten responsiveness. Funding from this grant
opportunity is aimed at supporting state and national prevention efforts, in that KY RRT will enter data obtained
from LHD investigations into the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System (NEARS) while our
Epidemiology partners enter data into the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS). The KY RRT Program will
communicate its impact through outreach by providing annual presentations at the local, state, and national level
to meet the requirements detailed in the Funding Opportunity Announcement.

Grant Number: 5U2FFD008043-03
NIH Institute/Center: FDA
Principal Investigator: William Bell