Food Safety & Consumer Services Division

Kirk Robinson, Assistant Director
Julie Carlson, Division Coordinator
(360) 902-1880

Programs

1. Office of Compliance & Outreach
2. Dairy-Nutrient Management
3. Food Safety
4. Microbiology Laboratory
5. Organic Food Certification
6. Rapid Response Team

Reports

• Annual Report

Division Meeting Presentations

• 2012 Food Safety & Consumer Services Division Meeting Presentations

Annual Report

2011 Annual Report

• Download Entire Report (PDF 737 KB)

• Cover (PDF 126 KB)
• Table of Contents (PDF 10 KB)
• Letter from Director Dan Newhouse (PDF 31 KB)
• Organization Chart (PDF 34 KB)
• Office of Compliance and Outreach (PDF 37 KB)
• Dairy Nutrient Management Program (PDF 33 KB)
• Food Safety Program (PDF 126 KB)
• Microbiology Laboratory Program (PDF 34 KB)
• Organic Program (PDF 38 KB)
• Rapid Response Team (PDF 33 KB)
• LEAN Project (PDF 31 KB)
• Graphs (PDF 54 KB)
• Summary (PDF 38 KB)
• Food Safety Staff Picture (PDF 160 KB)
• Organic Staff Picture (PDF 270 KB)
• RRT Staff Picture (PDF 98 KB)

[Top of Page] [Programs]

Division Meeting Presentations

2012 Food Safety & Consumer Services Division Meeting

• Food Safety Program (PDF 396 KB)
• Rapid Response Team (PDF 143 KB)
• Dairy Nutrient Management Program (PDF 297 KB)
• You First - Safety for Regular People (PDF 1.16 MB)

[Top of Page] [Programs]

Office of Compliance & Outreach

Administrator: Claudia Coles (360) 902-1905 or oco@agr.wa.gov

The Office of Compliance and Outreach (OCO) provides education, outreach and fair compliance response to support production of quality agricultural products and to maximize the safety and security of Washington's food system. To facilitate productive and efficient interactions between WSDA and the agriculture industry, OCO works collaboratively within the Food Safety and Consumer Services Division and across WSDA to promote and enhance the cohesive operations of the Agency and improve service delivery.

[Top of Page] [Programs]

Dairy-Nutrient Management

Program Manager: Nora Mena (360) 902-1982

The WSDA Dairy Nutrient Management Program protects water quality from livestock nutrient discharges through clear guidance, education, technical assistance, equitable enforcement of state and federal water quality laws and through coordination with related agencies, industry and other stakeholders. The Dairy Nutrient Management Program goal is to ensure the appropriate management of dairies and other livestock facilities in order to protect the quality of state waters and strategically regulate and educate the dairy, livestock and poultry industries regarding water quality protection within Washington State and facilitate delivery of technical assistance to the industry.

[Top of Page] [Programs]

Food Safety

Program Manager: Lucy Severs (360) 902-1876

Inspects and analyzes food products; inspects food processing, handling and storage establishments and practices; inspects dairy farms and plants; licenses and supervises dairy technicians; inspects eggs for quality and weight standards, sets and enforces sanitary standards for egg graders; inspects refrigerated locker plants. Licenses custom farm slaughterers and custom meat facilities.

[Top of Page] [Programs]

Microbiology Laboratory

Program Manager: Barbara Baker (360) 753-2228

The Microbiology Laboratory, located in Olympia, supports the department's Food Safety Program by testing food and dairy products for food poisoning organisms and by examining food products for contamination by insects, rodents or filth.  The laboratory only accepts food samples from the Food Safety Program. Analyzes food and dairy products for potentially harmful organisms. Analyzes animal tissues and blood for microbiological pathogens.

[Top of Page] [Programs]

Organic Food Certification

Program Manager: Brenda Book (360) 902-1805

The WSDA Organic Food Program protects consumers and supports the organic food industry by ensuring the integrity of organic food products through establishing organic standards and certifying organic producers, processors, and handlers. The program provides technical information about organic food production and assists in the development of markets for the organic food industry. Establishes organic standards, certifies organic food producers, processors and handlers; provides technical and market information for industry.

[Top of Page] [Programs]

Rapid Response Team

Program Manager: Steve Fuller (360) 902-1819

The Rapid Response Program develops and manages the Food and Feed Emergency Rapid Response Team (RRT). The RRT is a joint effort by WSDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Seattle District Office (SEA-DO) to improve the efficiency of food emergency response and reduce the time to a meaningful intervention that protects public health. During an emergency response, WSDA and SEA-DO participate together on jointly-staffed field teams and manage the response via a unified command structure. The term "food emergency response" includes incidents of food contamination, food-borne illness outbreaks caused by distributed food products, natural disasters, and other incidents that may impact the safety of Washington's food supply.

The Rapid Response Program also assists the Food Safety Program in its efforts to continuously improve its program infrastructure. This is accomplished through the implementation of the FDA's Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS), a set of ten national standards that address all major operations in a food regulatory program. Finally, the Rapid Response Program leads improvements in statewide food emergency response coordination. By partnering with other food emergency response agencies in the state, the Rapid Response Program is leading the effort to produce a single Food Emergency Response Plan (FERP) that seeks a common understanding of roles and responsibilities for all partner agencies.

[Top of Page] [Programs]