Washington's Rapid Response Team (RRT)
The Washington Rapid Response Team (RRT) is a local, state, and federal collaborative team tasked with responding to food and feed-related emergencies in an effective and efficient manner. Common RRT partners include WSDA, Washington State Department of Health, FDA Office of Human and Animal Foods Division 6-West (Seattle District Office), and local health jurisdictions.
During a food/feed emergency response, the Washington RRT coordinates multi-agency field teams and manages the response using the Incident Command System (ICS) as its foundation. The term "food emergency response" includes incidents of food contamination, food-borne illness outbreaks associated with distributed food products, natural disasters, intentional contamination, and other incidents that may impact the safety of Washington's food supply and therefore the health of the public.
Multiple agencies participating in an initial incident briefing during the 2019 Washington RRT Annual Exercise
The WSDA Rapid Response Program develops and manages the Rapid Response Team (RRT).
The mission of the Washington RRT is to improve the efficiency of food emergency response and reduce the time to a meaningful intervention that protects public health.
The RRT is an active collaborative effort between WSDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Seattle District Office (SEA-DO). Depending on the nature of the incident, several other public health partners may also participate in an RRT response including WSDA Emergency Management, Washington State Department of Health, local health jurisdictions, and state/federal laboratories.
During an incident response, WSDA and FDA SEA-DO often participate together on jointly-staffed field teams and manage the response through joint coordination activities and Incident Command System (ICS) principles. The term "food emergency response" includes incidents of food contamination, human illness outbreaks associated with food products, natural disasters, and other events that may impact the safety of Washington's human food supply.
Hot Topics
For more information:
- Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
- Animal Feed Lab
- Consumer Food Complaints