Testimony of Wayne R. Carlson
Livestock Services Coordinator
North Dakota Department of Agriculture
Senate Bill 2218
Human Services Committee
Red River Room
January 27, 2003

Chairman Lee and committee members, for the record, my name is Wayne Carlson. I am the Livestock Services Coordinator for the Department of Agriculture. I am here to testify in support of Senate Bill 2218.

This bill is in response to a problem that exists with the Environmental Health Practitioner law as it relates to the Department of Agriculture's meat and dairy inspectors. The law requires that all persons engaged in the practice of environmental health pass the national environmental health practitioner registry exam administered under the National Environmental Health Association. The examination requires an individual to learn a very broad range of topics that may be valuable for an employee who is required to perform several types of inspections. However, only a fraction of this information is relevant to the job duties of a meat or dairy inspector. At the time this law was passed the only national certification program available for individuals doing environmental health duties was the registry exam. Recently, other national certification programs have been developed. One of these programs is the Certified Food Safety Professional program. Since our dairy and meat inspectors' duties specifically relate to food safety issues, it makes more sense for them to be certified under this national certification program. This bill would allow our department the flexibility to have inspectors certified in an area which more closely relates to their scope of practice.

This bill will be the first step in allowing this type of certification to occur. The administrative rules must also be changed to reflect the law change. The Health Department and the Department of Agriculture have started the process and have made a commitment to work though this process and allow for this type of flexibility in licensing individuals with different inspection duties.

Mr. Chairman and committee members, I urge a do pass on Senate Bill 2218. If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Thank you.