Division of Environmental Health Food Safety and Sanitation Program

AFPTF Quarterly Meeting Minutes

• April 23, 2024
• 10 to 11:30 a.m. (Alaska)

Roll Call

Alyssa Rodrigues, Brian Himelbloom, Chris LaCroix, Katey Kennedy, Robbi Mixon, Lorinda Lhotka, Emily Garrett, Alnoor Hirji, Jeremy Ayers, Jeremy Botz, Colin Peacock, Dena Cologgi, Brehan Corveau, Kathleen Easley, Leslie Shallcross, Christine Hughes, Melissa Chlupach, Bobbie McDonald, Tiffany Kurani, Mia Kirk, Ryan Wiswesser, Robyn Hurley, LE Hegge, Kassim Kurani, Megan Militello, Stephanie Won, Jason Wiard

Meeting Notes

• Opening remarks and introductions, Lorinda Lhotka
• Food Safety and Sanitation program update, Lorinda Lhotka
  • Several new staff across the state are in training
  • Recruiting for EHO 1/2 position in Fairbanks
  • Held the second annual Manufactured Food Academy during the second week of April, which is an all-staff training for the Food Safety and Sanitation program; this year the Municipality of Anchorage's environmental health staff also joined the training for two days
  • The program is entering its busy summer season, receiving many temporary food service applications and temporary camp authorization requests (both processes have new online forms for the public)
  • The active permit search has been updated so that facilities can print additional copies of their permits from the search application
• Feedback and review of the 2024 Alaska Food Protection Task Force Educational Workshop, Emily Garrett
  • Reviewed data and feedback from January's educational workshop
  • Contact Lorinda or Emily if you are interested in helping plan next year's workshop
• Task force logic model introduction, Emily Garrett
  • Reviewed the task force's logic model for the current three-year grant funding cycle
  • Reminder about the activities required for manufactured food funding:
    1. Establish organizational governance documentation, including a vision statement, mission statement, and logic model to describe the task force's focus areas, inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes
    2. Hold one governance meeting each year with membership to review organizational governance documentation, vision statement, mission statement, and logic model
• Resources and outreach, Lorinda Lhotka
  • Partnership and workgroup with Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
    • Developing a "food safety library" with guidance and outreach for manufacturers
    • Building an interdiscplinary group or professionals and organizations that work with food manufacturers to share resources and help make sure processors have the resourcecs they need and that key areas of need are not missed
  • Outreach to labor camps and industrial facilities

Member Updates

• Section of Epidemiology, Kathleen Easley and Stephanie Won
  • Their team is fully staffed; Kathleen and Stephanie focus on foodborne and waterborne illness
  • There have been several Hepatitis A outbreaks in the past year; this is vaccine-preventable, so having food workers be vaccinated is another safety point for facilities
  • They will have a big training for public health nurses in May
• Office of the State Veterinarian, Dena Cologgi
  • Dr. Coburn is the new State Veterinarian; Dr. Gerlach is retiring
  • Recruiting for a new Assistant State Veterinarian, please share this job opportunity widely
  • Robin Hurley joined the program in February as the dairy sanitarian and produce safety specialist
  • A producer in Kodiak has chosen not to continue participating in the Grade A Dairy program and will operate under the raw milk regulations
  • Update on highly-pathogenic avian influenza: It has moved into livestock and has been found in raw milk, information about transmission to humans is limited
  • This year marks 100 years for the pasteurized milk ordinance in the U.S.; FDA is highlighting one dairy fact from each state every week, Alaska will be highlighted the week of May 6 (Pasteurized Milk Ordinance Centennial)
• Environmental Health Laboratory, Dena Cologgi
  • As a reminder, any food producers who use a non-State lab must report exceedances to Food Safety and Sanitation; if a State lab is used, the lab also reports exceedances
• Chugach Chocolates, Ryan Wiswesser
  • They have been engaged in training
  • No food safety issues
• University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, Leslie Shallcross
  • Julie is teaching a certified food protection manager (CFPM) course today, no other updates from Julie
  • Extension has permitted kitchen space available for people to rent at a nominal fee
  • They are interested in helping develop resources
• University of Alaska Anchorage Dietetics and Nutrition, Melissa Chlupach
  • Teaching a food services course that includes food safety and facility safety and sanitation
  • Serving as the project manager for the Alaska traditional kitchen; working on recipe development with traditional foods, putting together recorded and live demonstrations, expanding their reach, and encouraging ways of knowing and consuming traditional Alaska foods
• Alaska Food Policy Council, Colin Peacock
  • This is a planning year for the food business center; they are building a database of technical assistance experts, please reach out to Colin if you'd like to contribute colin@alaskafoodpolicycouncil.org
  • Robbi shared the resource Alaska Farmers Markets Toolkit: Food Hubs
• Alaska Manufacturing Extenstion Partnership (MEP), Alyssa Rodrigues, Kassim Kurani, Megan Militello
  • The HACCP courses they offered last year generated a lot of interest and were well received; will likely hold the courses again this fall
  • There will be another manufacturing mixer in June in Anchorage; technical assistance experts are also welcome to participate
• Alaska School Nutrition Association, Tiffany Kurani
  • Planning to share the task force and its resources within their group and with its partners
• Department of Fish and Game, Jeremy Botz
  • Manages a commercial salmon and herring fishery for the Prince William Sound area; not expecting any processing reductions in this area
  • Interested in safety from wild harvest to consumer, chain of custody throughout the food system
• North Pacific Seafood, LE Hegge
  • They are gearing up for salmon season!
• Brian Himelbloom
  • Continuing his work as a process authority, works with Chris Sannito
  • Many upcoming trainings and events
• Food and Drug Administration, Katey Kennedy (Retail Food Specialist)
  • Working with the Food Safety and Sanitation program's new environmental health officer to get her re-standardized so she can complete retail standardizations in Alaska
  • FDA's regional food seminar will be combined with WAFDO's annual meeting, September 23-24; registration is open

Action Items and Closing Remarks

• Action items
  1. Please let Lorinda or Emily know if you would like to help plan the 2025 Alaska Food Protection Task Force Educational Workshop
  2. Check out all the upcoming events and activities that were shared today
• Closing remarks
  • Join us for the next meeting in July

Next Meeting

• July 16, 2024
• 10 to 11:30 a.m. (Alaska)
• Virtual

Be sure to sign up for the Alaska Food Protection Task Force email list.