Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA FD 24 017
This funding opportunity is a single-source cooperative agreement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), specifically FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), to continue supporting the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH). It is designed to fund one award in fiscal year 2024, with an award ceiling of $10,000,000, and it is explicitly marked as "Clinical Trials Not Allowed." The program sits under an agriculture/consumer protection/food and nutrition activity area (CFDA 93.103). The application deadline listed is August 6, 2024, and eligibility is restricted only to IIT's IFSH, meaning this is not an open competition for other universities or organizations.
At its core, the cooperative agreement is meant to keep IFSH operating as a multidisciplinary, applied research hub that directly supports FDA's public health mission and current agency priorities under the restructured Human Foods Program (HFP). The research emphasis is practical and prevention-oriented, reflecting the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) approach to reducing hazards before they lead to outbreaks or recalls. The FDA is looking for projects that address real-world needs tied to FDA-regulated products, close known knowledge gaps in prevention strategies, and align with the HFP Science and Research Strategic Plan. Because the instrument is a cooperative agreement rather than a standard grant, it also implies substantial federal involvement and collaboration during the project period, which fits the intent to integrate FDA priorities and ensure the outputs are usable for regulatory science and food safety practice.
A major purpose of the award is to support applied research on preventive controls and processing strategies across both pre-harvest and post-harvest stages. This includes work on food processing and packaging technologies and on how those technologies affect not only microbial or chemical safety risks, but also the nutritional quality of foods. The scope also includes laboratory method performance, including method validation, which is a key need in food safety because reliable analytical methods underpin surveillance, compliance, outbreak response, and industry verification activities. In practical terms, the FDA is signaling that it wants IFSH to generate evidence and validated tools that can be adopted by regulators and industry to prevent contamination, strengthen process controls, and improve the scientific basis for decision-making across the food system.
Another central theme is maintaining and expanding the IFSH collaborative research model. The opportunity highlights leveraging resources across U.S. government agencies, universities (including other parts of IIT), and the food industry. That emphasis reflects the reality that FSMA-era food safety improvements often depend on coordinated work: shared data, shared laboratories and pilot facilities, jointly developed best practices, and research that can translate into deployable technologies or operational guidance. The notice also ties this collaboration to the "New Era of Food Safety," which generally refers to technology-enabled, prevention-focused modernization efforts, including better use of data and analytics, smarter tools for traceability and monitoring, and approaches that make prevention more systematic and scalable.
The award also prioritizes stakeholder engagement and knowledge transfer rather than research in isolation. IFSH is expected to work with stakeholders to identify emerging research needs and to develop training, outreach, and communication programs that help move research findings into practice. This part of the program is essentially about ensuring that what is learned through applied studies and method development does not stay in academic publications, but gets translated into usable training, guidance, and implementation support for industry, regulators, and other partners involved in manufacturing, processing, packing, and holding food.
Finally, the cooperative agreement is positioned as a direct support mechanism for implementing unified HFP priorities tied to FSMA and the New Era of Food Safety. Beyond general prevention strategies, the notice calls out two specific modernization directions: exploring opportunities for data sharing and adopting root cause analysis (RCA) as part of the agency's post-response efforts. That signals an interest in improving how the system learns from incidents after they occur, not just by correcting the immediate problem but by identifying underlying system failures and preventing recurrence. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a continuation and expansion of a long-term FDA-IFSH partnership focused on generating applied, implementable food safety science; validating the lab methods needed to support that science; and building the training and collaboration infrastructure that helps those results actually change real-world food safety performance.Apply for RFA FD 24 017
- The Food and Drug Administration in the agriculture, consumer protection, food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement to Support the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute for Food Safety and Health (U18) - Clinical Trials Not Allowed" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.103.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2024-06-06.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-08-06. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $10,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Others.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is this funding opportunity?
This opportunity is a single-source cooperative agreement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), through FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), to continue supporting the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH).
Is this an open competition?
No. Eligibility is restricted only to IIT's IFSH. The notice is explicitly not an open competition for other universities, nonprofits, companies, or other organizations.
How many awards will be made?
The opportunity is designed to fund one award in fiscal year 2024.
What is the maximum funding amount (award ceiling)?
The award ceiling is $10,000,000.
What is the application deadline?
The listed application deadline is August 6, 2024.
Which FDA office is sponsoring this agreement?
The sponsoring office is FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN).
What type of funding instrument is this?
This is a cooperative agreement rather than a standard grant.
What does it mean that this is a cooperative agreement?
Because the funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, the opportunity implies substantial federal involvement and collaboration during the project period. The intent is to integrate FDA priorities and ensure outputs are usable for regulatory science and food safety practice.
Are clinical trials allowed under this opportunity?
No. The opportunity is explicitly marked as "Clinical Trials Not Allowed."
What is the program area or CFDA listing for this opportunity?
The opportunity sits under an agriculture/consumer protection/food and nutrition activity area and is associated with CFDA 93.103.
What is the overall purpose of the award?
The overall purpose is to keep IFSH operating as a multidisciplinary, applied research hub that directly supports FDA's public health mission and current agency priorities under the restructured Human Foods Program (HFP).
How does this award relate to the FDA Human Foods Program (HFP)?
The cooperative agreement is positioned to support unified HFP priorities and aligns with FDA's intent to integrate current agency priorities into applied research, method development, and knowledge transfer activities.
How does this opportunity relate to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)?
The research emphasis is practical and prevention-oriented, reflecting the FSMA approach to reducing hazards before they lead to outbreaks or recalls.
What kinds of research projects is FDA looking to support through IFSH?
FDA is looking for applied, real-world projects tied to FDA-regulated products that close known knowledge gaps in prevention strategies and align with the HFP Science and Research Strategic Plan.
What are the main technical focus areas described in the opportunity?
The scope includes applied research on preventive controls and processing strategies across both pre-harvest and post-harvest stages, including food processing and packaging technologies, and evaluation of how those technologies affect microbial and chemical safety risks as well as the nutritional quality of foods.
Does the opportunity include work on laboratory methods?
Yes. The scope includes laboratory method performance work, including method validation. This is framed as essential for surveillance, compliance, outbreak response, and industry verification activities.
Why is method validation emphasized in this opportunity?
The opportunity underscores that reliable analytical methods underpin food safety systems, including detection, verification, response, and decision-making, so validated methods and tools are a key expected output.
What kinds of outputs is FDA signaling it wants from IFSH?
FDA is signaling an interest in evidence and validated tools that can be adopted by regulators and industry to prevent contamination, strengthen process controls, and improve the scientific basis for decision-making across the food system.
Does the opportunity address both pre-harvest and post-harvest food safety needs?
Yes. The notice explicitly describes preventive controls and processing strategies across both pre-harvest and post-harvest stages.
Is food packaging included in the scope?
Yes. The scope includes food processing and packaging technologies and their impacts on safety risks and nutritional quality.
Does the opportunity consider nutrition alongside safety?
Yes. The scope calls out understanding how processing and packaging technologies affect not only microbial or chemical safety risks, but also the nutritional quality of foods.
What is the IFSH collaborative research model mentioned in the notice?
The opportunity highlights maintaining and expanding a collaborative model that leverages resources across U.S. government agencies, universities (including other parts of IIT), and the food industry.
Why does the opportunity emphasize collaboration with industry and other partners?
The notice reflects that FSMA-era improvements often depend on coordinated work such as shared data, shared laboratories and pilot facilities, jointly developed best practices, and research that can translate into deployable technologies or operational guidance.
How does this opportunity connect to the "New Era of Food Safety"?
The notice ties collaboration and modernization efforts to the "New Era of Food Safety," described as technology-enabled, prevention-focused modernization, including better use of data and analytics, smarter tools for traceability and monitoring, and scalable prevention approaches.
Is stakeholder engagement part of what IFSH is expected to do under this agreement?
Yes. The award prioritizes stakeholder engagement and knowledge transfer so research findings move into practice rather than remaining only in academic publications.
What kinds of knowledge transfer activities are described?
The notice describes expectations to work with stakeholders to identify emerging research needs and to develop training, outreach, and communication programs that support implementation by industry, regulators, and other partners involved in manufacturing, processing, packing, and holding food.
Does the opportunity mention specific modernization directions beyond prevention?
Yes. The notice specifically calls out exploring opportunities for data sharing and adopting root cause analysis (RCA) as part of the agency's post-response efforts.
How is root cause analysis (RCA) positioned in this opportunity?
RCA is described as part of FDA's post-response efforts, signaling interest in learning from incidents by identifying underlying system failures and preventing recurrence.
What is the long-term intent of continuing the FDA-IFSH partnership through this award?
The opportunity is best understood as a continuation and expansion of a long-term partnership focused on generating applied, implementable food safety science; validating lab methods needed to support that science; and building training and collaboration infrastructure that helps those results improve real-world food safety performance.
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