Jenny Doan, LCDR, RN, MSN, Office of Public Health and Science, Health and Human Sciences Division, United Stastes Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Aerospace Building, RM 334, Washington, DC 20250 and Brenda Halbrook, MS, RD, Food and Nutrition Service, Food Distribution Division, Food Safety Coordinator, United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, 3101 Park Center Drive, 5th Flr, Alexandria, VA 22302, 703-305-2608, brenda.halbrook@FNS.usda.gov.

The objective of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is to provide safe, wholesome, and nutritious food to students. The NSLP currently serves approximately 27 million lunches and 8 million breakfasts daily throughout 95,000 schools and 24,000 school food authorities. The responsibility for the provision of safe food is a duty that must be addressed at every step in the food chain beginning with production and ending with preparation. In order to fulfill its obligation of providing safe food, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the USDA, which administers the NSLP and other feeding programs, along with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the USDA, has initiated a systematic analysis of how food safety concerns involving NSLP products are identified and handled. The FNS has a Commodity Complaint Hotline which schools use to communicate food safety issues. Issues may include possible biological, chemical, and physical hazards. The Food Safety Unit of the FNS forwards those complaints concerning meat, poultry, and egg products to the FSIS for inclusion in the Consumer Complaint Monitoring System. The Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS) is an electronic database housed in FSIS's Office of Public Health and Science. The CCMS provides an excellent mechanism for analyzing food safety concerns. Direct communication between CCMS personnel and FSIS district offices ensures rapid initiation of investigations. Through interagency cooperation, several investigations have commenced. Examples of outcomes include school lunch specification changes regarding bone as well as recalls.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Identify the two federal agencies responsible for ensuring the safety of food supply to school lunch and other federal feeding programs.
• 2. Discuss the procedures for the Food Nutrition Service’s (FNS) Commodity Hotline to address school lunch food safety issues
• 3. Describe the role of the Consumer Complaint Monitoring System in supporting Food Safety and Inspection’s (FSIS) mission of ensuring nation’s food supply safety and protecting public’s health.
• 4. Discuss the impact of collaboration efforts between FSIS and FNS in enhancing the detection and responses to school-lunch related outbreaks and contamination.

Keywords: Child/Adolescent, Food Safety

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.