Washington, DC, November 21, 2024 — On this podcast episode, the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ (NACCHO) Director of Government Affairs, Victoria Van de Vate, and Lauren Soule, Government Affairs Senior Specialist, discuss the results of the 2024 presidential election, share NACCHO’s recommendations for the next administration and 119th Congress, and provide an update on the ongoing federal FY25 budget negotiations. To get more updates and to subscribe to NACCHO’s weekly newsletter, visit: www.naccho.org/advocacy.

Later in the program (7:23), Nicholas Adams, Senior Program Analyst on NACCHO’s Food Safety Team, is joined by Melissa Ham, who served as a senior consultant with Wake County Environmental Services in North Carolina. In this third installment of NACCHO’s five-part Food Safety podcast series, they discuss efforts to address foodborne illnesses through retail food programs and how the work from the Retail Program Standards Network in North Carolina, a network of local health departments in partnership with the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has impacted retail food safety work on the local level.

Note: Since the time of the interview, Melissa Ham has moved to a new role as Registered Environmental Health Specialist for Hoke County Environmental Health.