Food safety award from NACCHO for 2020 goes to Southern Nevada Health District

The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the voice of the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments, announced that the Southern Nevada Health District in Nevada is the recipient of the 2020 Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award for Excellence in Food Protection at the local level.

This award is given annually to local environmental health jurisdictions that demonstrate unsurpassed achievement in providing outstanding food protection services to their communities.

“Food-borne illness can have an extensive impact in a single instance on the health and well-being of families in this country,” said NACCHO Chief Executive Officer Lori Tremmel Freeman.

“Local public health response to food-borne illness and outbreaks remains a critical and core function of health departments. The Crumbine Award recognizes innovation and best practices in food safety, as well as promotes the concept of spread. Local health departments continue to demonstrate outstanding work based on science and evidence. Departments such as the Southern Nevada Health District and their multi-faceted, comprehensive approach to engaging community partners to keep food safe to consume, deserve our recognition so that their successes can be replicated for the benefit of other communities.”

The jury reviewing Crumbine Award nominations, consisting of public health practitioners, noted the strength of the Southern Nevada Health District efforts in the following ways:

• Strong evidence of measurable improvement of the program through the identification of baseline data and assessment;
• Impressive ability in obtaining and using grants to move the food protection program forward, including the development of training for the industry and handwashing intervention strategy;
• Active in multiple national programs and conferences, including mentoring 11 jurisdictions on the FDA Retail Program Standards, speaking at national conferences, and actively participating in the National Environmental Assessment Reporting System; and
• Excellent partnership with academia to study links between social media comments to the occurrence of foodborne illness.

“Southern Nevada is an international culinary destination, known for the artistry of its cuisine and food service practices,” said Chris Saxton, Director of Environmental Health for the Southern Nevada Health District.

“With the support of our Board of Health, industry, local academia and our regulatory partners at the local, state and federal level, our staff members have employed innovative techniques to reach our food establishment operators, to gain regulatory compliance and share strategies to help prevent illness and foodborne outbreaks. These techniques and strategies include leveraging new technologies for foodborne illness detection, instructional YouTube videos with local chefs, training courses, and educational material on our expansive Food Establishment Resource Library and using assessments to drive quality improvement for our food safety programs. Our dedicated, environmental health staff has engaged with our food industry partners to address their needs and elevate food safety practices in our community.”

Named for one of America’s most renowned health officers and health educators, Samuel J. Crumbine, MD, (1862-1954), the award encourages innovative programs and methods that reduce or eliminate the occurrence of foodborne illnesses, recognizes the importance of food protection at the local level, and stimulates public interest in foodservice sanitation.

The Crumbine Award is supported by the Conference for Food Protection, in cooperation with the American Academy of Sanitarians, American Public Health Association, Association of Food and Drug Officials, Food Marketing Institute, Foodservice Packaging Institute, International Association for Food Protection, National Association of County and City Health Officials, National Environmental Health Association National Restaurant Association, National Sanitation Foundation International, and UL LLC.

 NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visitwww.naccho.org.

Southern Nevada Health District
The Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) is one of the largest local public health organizations in the United States. The health district serves more than 2.2 million residents, which represents 72 percent of Nevada’s total population. Additionally, the Health District is charged with safeguarding the public health of more than 42 million visitors to Las Vegas each year. For information on SNHD services and programs, visit www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org, call (702) 759-1000 or follow the SNHD on Twitter @SNHDinfo and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SouthernNevadaHealthDistrict.