Partnership and Workforce Development Unit

Related Topics

Environmental Health Division

Food Safety Partnership
of Minnesota

After more than 20 years of Food Safety Partnership (FSP) activities, FSP is pivoting! We are increasing engagement with the communities we seek to serve. The new FSP will better meet the needs of today’s audience by engaging people from Minnesota communities to help steer food safety education, training, and outreach projects. This improved partnership will help FSP deliver the food safety information people want in the formats they prefer.

Help shape the future of FSP

Your participation can help MDH understand the needs and preferences of your community when it comes to retail food safety education, training, and outreach projects for people who work in a food or beverage service setting (coffee shops, bars, delis, restaurants, etc.). We are looking for participants who do cooking, food preparation, front of house service, bartending/coffee service, dishwashing, or management.

If you are interested in how you can help shape the future of FSP and the FSP Steering Committee, we want to hear from you. Between March and December of 2023, the project team will ask for help with:

  • Describing the purpose and goals of FSP.
  • Defining roles, responsibilities, and term length for FSP Steering Committee members.
  • Explaining how the FSP Steering Committee will engage with communities to choose and complete retail food safety education, training, and outreach projects.
  • Organizing a new FSP Steering Committee to guide the FSP’s work.

You can submit your name, contact information, and a description of the community you identify with here:

Stay informed

MDH will provide project updates throughout the year.

  • Get email updates: On the bottom of any MDH web page, enter your email address and subscribe to Partnership and Workforce Development Unit and Food Safety Partnership.

How we got here

The Food Safety Partnership of Minnesota (FSP) and its Steering Committee (FSP SC) were formed in 2001. Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), Food, Pools, and Lodging Services Section staff led the work. The hallmark of FSP has been live, in-person, 3-hour meetings held multiple times per year. Meeting topics included retail food safety education, training, and outreach projects.

In FSP’s infancy, there was widespread input and interest from communities which interact with Minnesota’s retail food safety system. However, over the last several years, participation and engagement has slowed considerably.

The original definition and goals for FSP were too broad. The group’s purpose and participant roles were not well defined. We need a more concise structure for FSP. Additionally, the membership of the FSP SC does not represent all Minnesotans. Shaking up membership, roles, and responsibilities will enable the Steering Committee to better meet the goals of FSP.

Three recent surveys by MDH demonstrate that we need increased engagement from our stakeholders when planning our outreach and educational tools.

  • Survey for Workers in Food and Beverage Establishments (February and March 2022) – more than 1600 submissions from GovDelivery subscribers and social media users.
  • Food, Pools, and Lodging Services Section Activities Survey (June 2022) – 60 submissions from state and local retail food program staff.
  • FSP Steering Committee Survey (July and August 2022) – 8 submissions from FSP SC members who had been invited to the most recent FSP SC meeting (November 2019).

Meetings

Employee illness awareness materials

In 2009, a subcommittee of the Food Safety Partnership (FSP) was formed. The Employee Illness Awareness Workgroup included state and local public health regulatory staff, and representatives from industry and academia. The Workgroup was charged with reviewing and revising existing employee illness materials and creating new ones, as needed.

The Employee Illness Awareness materials have been approved and are available at:

The new and revised materials created by the Workgroup appear on the web in PDF format. If you would like them in a different format so that agency/company specific information may be added, please contact MDH:

Of interest

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Last Updated: 03/10/2023