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Olivia Ault:
“Indiana’s Food Protection Innovative Expansion,” Olivia Ault, Indiana Department of Health, Grant Administrator. Introduction and background, the Indiana Department of Health IDOH devoted A2 Foundational Capability funds to improving the department’s Food Protection Division. PHIG-funded efforts to create tools that have previously not existed in Indiana and are changing the way IDOH can approach Food Protection.

Objectives: design tools for food inspectors to identify gaps in knowledge and provide resources to remedy said gaps, and demonstrate the need for expande food protection programs. Methods: IDOH joined with Ivy Tech Community College, providing two two-day workshops for food inspectors. During the workshops, participants strengthen their knowledge of science and regulatory considerations related to special food processes conducted at the retail level. IDOH also paired with Purdue University to conduct science-based research studies supporting the interpretation and implementation of the home-based vendor, HPV final rules. With new knowledge, IDOH expanded the approved HPV product list due to new evidence.

Purdue was able to complete tests on items such as packaging to determine which would be considered food safe. Is this allowable packaging expanded? Examples are listed in the handbook to assist vendors in determining the best packaging for their products. Another example of testing that was completed by Purdue was testing conducted on Apples to determine their PH levels. Tests determined that apples never reached unsafe levels. This allowed IDOH to expand the list of approved items. IDOH has created the retail food program dashboard, which captures inspection information once completed and compiled electronically. Indiana adopted a risk-based inspection methodology, and the dashboard allows the state to establish baseline data for facilities challenged by complying with public health interventions and other risk factors. Indiana is a home rule state, which means LHCs are in control of their food inspections, while counties are opting into this dashboard, many are continuing to complete their efforts on their own. There is no penalty for those who do not submit data to the dash to the dashboard. The goal is to make this useful to those who do opt in.

Results: IDOH and Ivy Tech trained over 100 food inspectors statewide. The training was instrumental in the preparation to add specialized processing methods to the newly updated requirements. IDOH and Purdue co-authored Indiana’s first HPV handbook. This was a major win for Indiana and HPVs in the state. A webinar was completed in February, which had just under 1000 vendors attending. The handbook was disseminated to participants. It is available through LHDs or the Indiana realm. IDOH created the first food division dashboard that provides regulatory insight in real time. Special thanks to Mariah Allen Everingham for her assistance in creating this poster. Special thanks to Ivy Tech Community College and Purdue University’s Food and Entrepreneur Manufacturing Institute.