Eyamba Sowers Scott, MSHSEM, Rapid Response Team Coordinator
esowersscott@scda.sc.gov
803-575-2448
123 Ballard Court
West Columbia, SC 29172
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Rapid Response Team (RRT) Program is an initiative that partners with state programs to build food safety infrastructure and an integrated rapid response for human and animal food emergencies.
The SC RRT program works with our FDA partners to complete a thorough evaluation of its responses, training, and procedures every year to formulate a strategic action plan for improvements and growth.
South Carolina developed a Rapid Response Team in 2018 to:
- Minimize the time between agency notification of a human or animal food contamination event and implementation of effective control measures.
- Perform traceback investigations of implicated food from the point-of-service back to the distribution and original sources.
- Monitor recalls of food to ensure impacted foods are removed from all firms, farms, facilities, and retail establishments.
- Respond to reports of employee illness at food firms, farms, facilities, and establishments.
- Respond to unintentional and intentional contamination of food.
- Assess the damage to food products in manufacturing facilities, farms, and retail establishments that distribute, or sell food following disasters, such as fires, floods, and weather events and provide guidance as needed.
The team, headed by a Rapid Response Team Coordinator, is comprised of representatives from South Carolina’s Public Health Laboratory, DPH’s Communicable Disease Prevention Section (CDES), and the FDA along with diverse stakeholders from food manufacturing, farming, other state food safety regulators, emergency management, law enforcement, industry, etc. The team meets on a regular basis to discuss incidents, preparations, and create familiarity.
SC RRT Membership
- SCDA Retail Food Safety Program
- SCDA Milk Safety Program
- SCDA Wholesale Food Safety Program
- SCDA Produce Safety Program
- SCDA Animal Feed Safety Program
- SCDA Laboratory
- Department of Public Health – Public Health Laboratory (DPH-PHL)
- Department of Public Health – Communicable Disease Epidemiology Section (DPH-CDES)
- Clemson University Livestock Poultry Health (CULPH)
- Clemson University Livestock Poultry Health – Emergency Preparedness Division
- South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE)
- South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES)
- South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD)
- South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- US Department of Agriculture – Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS)
- Representatives of SC’s Food Industry
The Rapid Response Team Coordinator monitors complaints from our Food Surveillance System and reports from DPH-CDES to determine response requirements and activation levels.
Our program performs safety checks with all human food and animal feed facilities that have the potential to carry recalled contaminated or mislabeled products.
Through training, such as FDA and FEMA coursework and university programs, SCDA arranges opportunities for members of all Food and Feed Safety Teams and the SCDA RRT to be as updated and prepared as possible.
SC RRT is trained in the same Incident Command System (ICS)/National Incident Management System (NIMS) structure as the SC Emergency Management Division, local responders, and our federal partners to facilitate improved interagency communication, coordination, and documentation of response activities.
Foodborne Illnesses & Outbreaks
The federal government estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually, resulting in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.
