Beth Phillips

Director, Member Services & Administration

Foodservice Packing Institute

The County of Sacramento Environmental Management Department has been selected as the recipient of the 2008 Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award for Excellence in Food Protection.

For 53 years, the Crumbine Award, named for one of the United States' most renowned public health sanitarians, has been presented to a local public health unit by a jury of leading environmental health officials and public health sanitarians and is the most prestigious recognition that a public health unit can receive. Crumbine winners serve as models for other public health and safety programs across the nation.

“The County of Sacramento has demonstrated leadership, innovation and a commitment to food safety that transcends the boundaries of their county," said  2008 Crumbine Award Jury Chair Gary Erbeck of the County of San Diego Department of Environmental Health (the 2005 Crumbine Award winner). "It is a guiding light for local food safety programs throughout the nation.”

County of Sacramento Environmental Management Department Director Val Siebal said collaboration with industry stakeholders and having a multi-pronged approach were key factors in developing their Retail Food Program.

“We are extremely proud to receive this award as it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to consumer information and protection in Sacramento County,” Siebal said.

Sacramento received the Crumbine Award at the Annual Educational Conference of the National Environmental Health Association, June 22-25 in Tucson. Award presentations will also be made at the annual meetings of the International Association for Food Protection, August 3-6 in Columbus, Ohio, and National Association of County and City Health Officials, Sept. 9-12 in Sacramento.

The Crumbine Award is supported by the Conference for Food Protection, in cooperation with the American Academy of Sanitarians, APHA, Association of Food & Drug Officials, Foodservice Packaging Institute, International Association for Food Protection, National Association of County and City Health Officials, National Environmental Health Association, National Restaurant Association Solutions, National Sanitation Foundation International and Underwriters Laboratories Inc.

For more information about the Crumbine Award, please contact Beth Phillips, the Foodservice Packaging Institute Director of Member Services and Administration, (703) 538-2800. A copy of Sacramento’s award-winning application may be found on the FPI Web site at www.fpi.org.