Environmental Health
Continuous Improvement Board

The EHCIB is committed to working collaboratively with customers and stakeholders to improve the food licensing system in Minnesota. The Mobile Food Unit Workgroup is working to create a simple, consistent, and flexible transient food licensing and enforcement system to protect public health. The following is the approved charter of this workgroup.

• Mobile Food Unit Workgroup Charter (PDF)

The EHCIB is committed to helping FPLS programs determine the best solution for the current electronic inspection systems challenges. A subgroup was formed to evaluate potential, short-term solutions to address the changes in Rapid Inspection use and support by MDH.

• Electronic Inspection Systems Subgroup Meeting Summary (PDF)

The Food, Pools, and Lodging Services (FPLS) Statewide Performance Measures help a) provide a statewide picture of FPLS in Minnesota and b) help drive statewide improvement efforts. The EHCIB is committed to collecting FPLS statewide performance measures and to improving the measures and process.

The EHCIB piloted the statewide FPLS performance measures and data collection process in 2017, collecting 2016 data. In March-April 2019, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and locally delegated agencies submitted 2018 data for on-time inspections; MDH, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and locally delegated agencies submitted staffing data. After reporting in 2017, the EHCIB recommended the addition of qualitative information to supplement information learned through reporting. In 2019, statewide discussions were held with MDH, MDA, locally-delegated agency representatives, and local public health representatives from non-delegated agencies. This feedback is included in the 2018 report.

• Food, Pools, and Lodging Services in Minnesota: 2018 Statewide Performance Measures (PDF)
• Food, Pools, and Lodging Services Measures 2018 : Appendix A - On Time Inspections (PDF)
• Food, Pools, and Lodging Services in Minnesota: 2016 Statewide Performance Measures (PDF)

2019 reporting - March 31, 2019

• Instructions for reporting FPLS statewide performance measures in 2019 (PDF)
• Changes from 2017 reporting (2016 data) include:
  • Only staff qualifications and on-time inspections will be reported
  • Staff qualifications (number of inspectors standardized, etc.) will be reported by agency or jurisdiction. This means multi-jurisdiction FPLS programs will not have to separate staff qualifications information by county as they did in 2017. MDH and MDA will also report staff qualifications overall since staff cover multiple counties
  • On-time inspections will be reported the same as before, by county/city. MDH and MDA will provide their on-time inspections data by county/city as well.
  • Statewide discussions were held with public health leaders and FPLS program staff across the state in February 2019. These discussions are part of the EHCIB’s effort to improve the FPLS statewide performance measures and identify key aspects of food safety. The information will be summarized and shared with the EHCIB, who will use it to determine which measures to collect in the future.

2017 reporting

• Instructions for Reporting in 2017, FPLS Statewide Annual Performance Measures (PDF)
• Risk Factor Tool and Violations Count Spreadsheet (Excel)
• Frequently Asked Questions: FPLS Annual Performance Measure Reporting (PDF)

In response to wide-spread concern and frustration, the Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board developed and adopted the following re-evaluation process document:

• FPLS Re-Evaluation Process (PDF)

Programs that participated in the FPLS program re-evaluation process provided feedback about the process through interviews conducted by MDH Public Health Practice Section staff. The following is a summary of their feedback:

• FPLS Re-evaluation Process Summary of Feedback - 3/9/16 (PDF)

The EHCIB is committed to improving the FPLS program evaluation process. The following is the approved charter for and membership of the workgroup charged with developing the metrics and tools to support the new FPLS program evaluation process.

• FPLS Evaluation Workgroup Charter (PDF)

The workgroup is currently planning the rollout of the new FPLS program evaluation process, which starts in 2020.

The Environmental Continuous Improvement Board issued the following Statement of Support outlining their commitment to Minnesota’s state-local environmental health partnership.

• Statement of Support for Minnesota's State-Local Environmental Health Partnership (PDF)

• 2016-2019 Draft Work Plan (PDF)
• 2015 EHCIB Work Plan – Updated March 2016 (PDF)

• EHCIB Background - Previous groups that have met over time (PDF) Environmental Health Timeline since 1980
• 1980 Report - Final Report of the Environmental Health Policy Study Advisory Committee (PDF)
• 1993 SCHSAC Report - Strengthening Public Health Leadership in Environmental Health (PDF)