U.S. flag An official website of the United States government

On Oct. 1, 2024, the FDA began implementing a reorganization impacting many parts of the agency. We are in the process of updating FDA.gov content to reflect these changes.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  1. Home
  2. For Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Officials
  3. State Training Coordination Services
  1. For Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Officials

State Training Coordination Services

Related Resources

FDA's Office of Partnerships (OP) works collaboratively with FDA's Office of Training and Educational Development (OTED) to offer a variety of services to assist government agencies obtain access to FDA training.  

What is OTED?

  • Mission: The OTED Mission is to provide high quality learning opportunities through timely, cost-effective learning products that support FDA's mission and strategic goals and meets current training and development needs of ORA personnel, State and Local regulatory officials, and other stakeholders.
  • What They Do: OTED is responsible for the training and development of a 5,000+ member staff located in ORA's field and headquarters offices throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. In addition, OTED is responsible for providing training to state and local regulatory agency staff who are involved in the regulation of food, drugs, and other commodities regulated by FDA.
  • Continuing Education Units (CEUs): OTED offers Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for the training courses meeting its high quality standards.

What role does OTED have with training courses?

  • OTED schedules a training date and location for a specific course offering.
  • OTED determines the appropriate number of slot allocations for FDA and State agency employees.
  • For courses essential for contract work, ODP supports OTED by coordinating, recruiting, and pre-registering state agency officials.
  • OTED course instructors verify prerequisites upon receiving registrations and ultimately confirm an individual's acceptance to attend a course.

Which OTED training courses are available to State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial officials?

  • For a complete listing of training courses offered by the FDA, please visit OTED's ORA LearnED Training System.
  • There are several commodity-specific trainings offered by the FDA: Manufactured Food; Veterinary Medicine: Emergency Response; Produce; State Cooperative Programs (Milk, Shellfish and Retail), among others.
  • If your agency has a contract for work to be performed on behalf of the FDA, the courses below may be pertinent to your agency's training needs.

Courses essential for contract work:

  • FD107: Egg Safety Inspections
  • FD152: Food Processing and Technology
  • FD190: Food Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Application, and Evidence Development
  • FD202: Conducting Acidified Food Inspections
  • FD219: Juice HACCP and Conducting Juice Inspections
  • FD225: Sprout Inspections for Regulators
  • FD226: Produce Inspections for Regulators
  • FD249: Conducting Seafood Inspections
  • FD254: Preventive Controls for Human Food Regulators Course
  • FD304: Low Acid Canned Food Inspections
  • FD340: Dietary Supplement Good Manufacturing Practices
  • FD405: Aseptic Processing and Fill
  • ER220: Traceback Investigations
  • ER300: Intermediate Incident Command System for Expanding Incidents
  • ER400: Advanced Incident Command System and General Staff - Complex Incidents (ICS400)
  • ER950: Incident Command System - Position Specific: Incident Commander
  • ER958: Incident Command System - Position Specific: Operations Section Chief
  • VM102: Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) for Animal Food Regulators Course
  • VM220: Preventive Controls (PC) for Animal Food Regulators Course

Other courses, including State Cooperative Program courses:

  • FD112: Food Code
  • FD204: Temporary Food Establishments
  • FD207: Plan Review Potential
  • FD215: Managing Retail Food Safety
  • FD218: Risk-Based Inspection Methods in Retail
  • FD242: Sanitation Surveys of Shellfish Growing Areas
  • FD246: Shellfish Laboratory Methods and Evaluations
  • FD312: Special Processes at Retail
  • FD371: Milk Pasteurization Controls and Tests
  • FD372: Milk Plant Sanitation and Inspection
  • FD373: State Milk Laboratory Evaluation Officer (LEO)
  • FD374: Laboratory Examination of Dairy Products
  • FD375: Dairy Farm Sanitation and Inspection
  • FD378: Preventive Controls for Grade "A" Dairy Regulators
  • FD577: Special Problems in Milk Protection

How do I register for courses required under my state's human or animal food contract?

Registration

While OTED ultimately accepts or rejects an applicant's registration for a course, ODP's State Training Coordination Services (STCS) assists in processing government employee registrations (Attachment A) forms. When an agency receives a course announcement along with an Attachment A, the agency is permitted to submit a limited number of registrations which will be processed and considered by ODP and overturned to OTED for approval.

Please be on the lookout for an email from ODP's StateTraining@fda.hhs.gov. OP will often advertise a Course Announcement and will recruit State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial officials, accordingly. Unfortunately, space is limited throughout these courses and not every applicant will receive a seat in a course. Below are several ways in which individuals can obtain seats in courses.

  1. Preregistration (For select Manufactured Food, Veterinary Medicine, Produce, and Emergency Response courses):

    STCS has a preregistration window in the fall of every year in which participating state and local agencies receive a Preregistration Workbook (PRW). This PRW contains registration data for all scheduled courses for the following fiscal year training cycle. If a participating agency submits a PRW by the deadline, STCS will consider all requests received for preregistration; however, preregistered requests do not guarantee an agency a seat in a desired course.

  2. Wait Listing:

    If the preregistration window has passed, participating agencies may still obtain additional seats by submitting an email requesting individuals be placed on ODP's Waitlist. All Waitlist requests should be submitted to Mailboxstatetraining@fda.hhs.gov. Agencies will be notified if a seat becomes available for a desired course. 

  3. Limited Seating Announcement:

    Periodically an FDA training opportunity will have a surplus of unfilled seats. When this occurs, STCS sends a Limited Seating Announcement email to participating agencies. Seats may then be requested for this specific course.

Notification of Upcoming Trainings

STCS maintains various contact lists organized by commodity. These lists are used to notify government agencies regarding training. Only two points of contact per agency, per commodity, are allowed. To request to be added to a contact list, please send an inquiry to StateTraining@fda.hhs.gov.

Questions about Course Content

STCS only coordinates registration of state and local employees to FDA trainings. If you have a specific question about course content or logistical information such as hotel or special needs accommodation, please contact the OTED course instructor listed in the Course Announcement. You may also search for instructors and for courses by visiting OTED's ORA LearnED Training System.

Reimbursement for Travel Expenses

The funding agreement type will dictate the approval process for use of FDA funding to attend various training opportunities. If your state, local, tribal, or territorial government agency is utilizing funding under an FDA grant or cooperative agreement, then your agency may utilize the expedited funding approval process. Once your agency has received a seat confirmation, please turn in the expedited Cost Estimate Form for each person attending the FDA training from your agency. Cost Estimate Forms may be turned into StateTraining@fda.hhs.gov. The approval process may take up to 5 business days. 



Back to Top