At the June 2002 Annual Educational Conference in Portland, Oregon, AFDO approved five resolutions which were forwarded to the Food and Drug Administration for consideration and/or acceptance. FDA's response to President Shirley Bohm concerning these resolutions is as follows:

Resolution 3-Changing the Food Code Revision and Publication Cycle.
AFDO's endorsement of the Conference of Food Protection's (CFP) recommendation to lengthen the Food Code revision and publication cycle is duly noted. CFP's recommendation is that the Food Code be revised every four years and made available at least one year before the biennial CFP Conference. When issues of significant public health concern emerge that need to be addressed in the interim between revised editions, FDA plans to act immediately.

Resolution 4-Improvement of emergency communications with diverse ethnic groups.
AFDO would like to establish a partnership and work with FDA staff to identify languages and dialects needed for emergency communications with diverse ethnic groups.

FDA has been working to translate as many of its materials as possible for two major audiences: (1) U.S. consumers who do not speak/understand English; and (2) foreign governments or producers who must comply with U.S. Food Safety Standards. FDA is continuing internal discussions with the Office of Public Affairs and CFSAN's Office of Constituent Operations on how the agency can improve emergency communications with diverse ethnic groups.

Resolution 5-Validated Methodology for Food Allergens.
FDA is working to validate methodology for food allergens to support allergen compliance activities. FDA has taken the lead in the validation of commercially available test kits for the detection of peanut allergens in food. FDA, through work with the Association of Analytical Chemists (AOAC) International and five test kit manufacturers, has initiated a method validation effort that will initially follow the AOAC performance tested/multi-laboratory protocol. Future method studies and directions will focus on the evaluation and validation of available test kits for the detection of allergenicity from tree nuts, milk, and egg protein as well as other allergens as methods become available. These validated methods will be an important component of FDA's allergen program.

Resolution 7-Infected Foodservice Employees.
AFDO asks the FDA to take a strong proactive role in educating the food service industry regarding the risk sick employees pose in causing outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.

FDA's resources to educate industry is limited. FDA believes the resources available through entities such as the Food Safety Training and Education Alliance (FSTEA) should be utilized to accomplish this goal. Existing FDA courses, offered through the Division of Human Resources Development, State Training Team are available to industry personnel.

Resolution 8-Inspector Certification through ORA University.
AFDO asks FDA to establish the ORA University as a source for accredited public health certification and that this certification be nationally recognized.

FDA continues to build the ORA University, including web-based training components. New web courses are being developed. Existing classroom courses are being retooled, and certification curricula are being developed for both FDA and state/local regulatory officials. FDA welcomes AFDO's support and intends to involve AFDO greatly in the development and expansion of ORA University.