The Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award is a prestigious award given annually to local environmental health jurisdictions that demonstrate unsurpassed achievement in providing outstanding food protection services to their communities.

The purpose of the award is to encourage innovative programs and methods that reduce or eliminate the occurrence of foodborne illnesses, recognize the importance of food protection at the local level and stimulate public interest in foodservice sanitation. Often, winning programs offer “best practices” that may be used by others to advance their own food protection programs.

The award is named in honor of Dr. Samuel J. Crumbine (1862 – 1954), a sanitarian-physician and public health pioneer who was renowned for his innovative methods of improving public health protection. The Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award was established in his honor in 1954 and was first awarded in 1955.

In additional to national recognition and well-deserved accolades, winning programs receive the Crumbine Award plaque, consisting of a bronze Crumbine medallion and engraved plate. Key individuals from winning programs (typically the health officer, the immediate supervisor of the food program and the chief sanitarian) also receive engraved Crumbine medallions.

Presentations of these awards are made at the annual meetings of the International Association for Food Protection, the National Association of County & City Health Officials, and the National Environmental Health Association. In addition, Crumbine Award lapel pins are distributed to the winning program’s staff, at the discretion of the program director.

The basic criteria of an award-winning program are:
  • Sustained excellence over the preceding four to six years, as documented by specific outcomes and achievements, and evidenced by continual improvements in the basic components of a comprehensive program;
  • Demonstrated improvements in planning, managing and evaluating a comprehensive program;
  • Innovative and effective use of program methods and problem solving to identify and reduce risk factors that are known to cause foodborne illness; and
  • Providing targeted outreach; forming partnerships; and participating in forums that foster communication and information exchange among the regulators, industry and consumer representatives.
Applications are reviewed by the jury to determine whether a program meets – or exceeds – these basic criteria, then determines which is worthy of that year’s Crumbine Award.
Entry Guidelines and Deadline
The deadline for submission is March 15, 2025.  The 2025 guidelines will be posted soon.  (View the 2024 award guidelines.)
Only local government organizations with the responsibility for food protection in the United States and Canada are eligible to apply for the award. These are understood to be departments or agencies that have the legal responsibility to protect the health of consumers in a county, district, city, town, township or like jurisdiction. Furthermore…
  • The U.S. Uniformed Services and U.S. Indian Health Service area programs are invited to apply, if they conduct a local food program.
  • State, provincial, institutional, industry and private programs are not eligible.
  • All local environmental health jurisdictions are encouraged to apply, regardless of size and resources.
  • Past award winners may apply five years after winning the award.