NACCHO awards Richmond County Health Department the 2024 Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award for exemplary strides in food safety

WASHINGTON — The National Association of County and City Health Officials, the voice of the over 3,300 local health departments across the country, is pleased to announce that the Richmond County Health Department in North Carolina is the recipient of the 2024 Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award for Excellence in Food Protection at the Local Level. This prestigious award is given annually to local environmental health jurisdictions that demonstrate unsurpassed achievement in providing outstanding food protection services to their communities.

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 food service sanitation. The Crumbine Award nominations were reviewed by a panel comprised of public health practitioners who noted the following food safety efforts from Richmond County Health Department:

• Meeting all nine of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (Retail Program Standards) in 2023, making Richmond County the first county in North Carolina to do so and ensuring a highly effective program for the regulation of retail food and foodservice establishments.
• Collaborating with other jurisdictions as well as the North Carolina Retail Program Standards Network — defined as three or more jurisdictions that regularly convene to work together to increase understanding of, and conformance with, the Retail Program Standards — to create policies and procedures for Retail Program Standards 3, 4, 6, and 8. The creation of these policies and procedures addressing handwashing, a known foodborne illness risk factor, led to a 56% decrease in foodservice worker violations over the course of four years.
• Offering multilingual, in-class and virtual, ServSafe training to foodservice establishments in Richmond County, as well as conducting Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) training tailored to school environments, enhancing identification, evaluation, and control of food safety hazards in schools.

“Thank you so much for recognizing Richmond County Environmental Health for the Crumbine Award. We are both honored and humbled to receive such a prestigious award,” said Holly Haire, deputy health director, Richmond County Health Department. “For nearly 30 years, this jurisdiction has strived to provide innovative, effective strategies and approaches to protecting our community from foodborne contamination. In doing so, we offer many opportunities for food handlers and regulatory agents alike to be educated in different environments and levels of learning. I am excited that the jury found some of our programs impressive as we continue to travel this road of food safety. This is not the end of the road for us but a new beginning. We will continue to strive to reach new goals and to set the bar higher and higher so as never to be complacent.”

“Each year, we hear news of foodborne illnesses and the devastating impact these outbreaks can have on the health and well-being of families in this country,” said Lori Tremmel Freeman, NACCHO CEO. “Populations that are more vulnerable, such as children and the elderly, are especially at risk. Coming out of COVID-19, local public health departments’ response to foodborne illnesses and outbreaks remains a critical and core function within communities. The Crumbine Award recognizes innovation and best practice in food safety. Health departments that are demonstrating outstanding work backed by scientific evidence deserve our recognition so that their efforts can be rewarded, and successes can be replicated for the benefit of other communities.”

The Crumbine Award will be presented live at NEHA’s Annual Educational Conference, July 15-18, in Pittsburgh, PA, and NACCHO’s Annual Conference (NACCHO360), July 23-26, in Detroit, MI.

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, NSF International, and UL Solutions LLC.

For more information, visit www.crumbineaward.com.