Asking Food Safety Questions at the Farmers’ Market
This Food Safety Infosheet offers suggested questions about growing practices, storage and food handling that consumers should ask farmers and vendors at farmers’ MORE » – from 
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Produce Safety Rule
Produce Safety Rule
NEW! Online GAP &
Fresh Produce Good
Strawberry Food
FSMA Final PC Rule
Produce Safety Rule
Trainers Course
A Produce Safety Alliance "Train-the-Trainer" Course will be held in Mills River, NC on October 4 & 5. (This is not for growers unless becoming trainers) Who Should Attend: Produce safety educators and others who work with fruit and vegetable growers who are interested in becoming Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) trainers on the standardized curriculum that meets the regulatory requirements in the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule. This curriculum was developed through a nationwide collaboration including produce growers, extension educators, researchers, produce industry representatives, and government personnel. Those who become a PSA Lead Trainer are able to offer the PSA standardized curriculum to growers. Those who become a PSA Trainer are able to offer the curriculum to growers under the direction of a Lead Trainer. More information on this workshop can be found here.
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Produce Safety Rule
Trainers Course
A Produce Safety Alliance "Train-the-Trainer" Course will be held in Mills River, NC on October 4 & 5. (This is not for growers unless becoming trainers) Who Should Attend: Produce safety educators and others who work with fruit and vegetable growers who are interested in becoming Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) trainers on the standardized curriculum that meets the regulatory requirements in the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule. This curriculum was developed through a nationwide collaboration including produce growers, extension educators, researchers, produce industry representatives, and government personnel. Those who become a PSA Lead Trainer are able to offer the PSA standardized curriculum to growers. Those who become a PSA Trainer are able to offer the curriculum to growers under the direction of a Lead Trainer. More information on this workshop can be found here.
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NEW! Online GAP &
Food Safety Plan Creation Course
Web-based course is designed to educate growers about food safety on the farm, explain the USDA GHP/GAP audit process, and assist in the process of developing a food safety program and writing a food safety plan for your farm. More information can be found at Online GAP & Food Safety Plan Course
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Fresh Produce Good
Agricultural Practices Workshop Series
Fresh produce has been linked to 14,350 outbreak-related illnesses, 1,382 hospitalizations and 34 deaths in the US (CDC, 1996-2010). Contamination can happen anywhere along the production chain, during growing, harvesting, manufacturing, processing, packing, holding, or transportation. The impacts of these contamination events are devastating physically and financially to everyone involved! The key to reducing these outbreaks is learning how to prevent contamination. As we near to the final Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Rule being published (to be issued October 31, 2015), buyers will expect growers to be following the law and producing their crops using the outlined GAPs. They may also require that you be GAP certified by a third party auditor. Working in partnership, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Cooperative Extension, NC Cooperative County Centers, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems - NC Growing Together Project (CEFS/NCGT) will be offering a two-part workshop aimed at providing farmers with the tools to identify hazards on your farm; to prepare a food safety hazard assessment; and to create and implement a custom food safety plan that integrates your farm’s practices while meeting market requirements for GAP certification. From this workshop, participants will be able to proactively build-in contamination prevention strategies and reduce these potential market losses for their own farming practices. This training assumes participants have some basic knowledge of on-farm food safety. Day 1 Identify on-farm food safety hazards (local farm visit part of day) Strategize on minimizing and remediation of potential contamination Accomplish a food safety hazard assessment Provide details on the FSMA proposed produce rule Review of USDA GAP/GHP Audit questions and farm examples (Classroom) Translate GAP Certification and third party audits details Participants will receive a Certificate of educational attendance upon completion Participants will receive two workbooks on resources for a food safety program Day 2* Guided assistance in writing a fresh produce safety plan Participants will receive templates for standard operation procedures (SOPs), food safety plan, and documentation logs Identification of common problems and strategic ways to reduce/ remediate hazards Provide commodity-specific resources Provide compliance tips for audit questions Participants will be eligible to receive Cost Shares and one-on-one mock audit *Completion of the Day 1 workshop is a prerequisite. An on-line course offered by NC Cooperative Extension offers participants the opportunity to review basic food safety knowledge to prepare for application within the workshop; please indicate your interest when registering for more information. Basic computer knowledge is recommended in order to receive the maximum benefit from the 2nd day session. Participants are requested to bring their own computers or indicate this need to the instructors upon registration. Extra computers are available on a limited first come basis. Taking this course will not result in GAPs Certification; rather attendees can leave these workshops with a well-developed working draft of their specific food safety plan, which becomes the framework for a GAP certification audit and can be used to demonstrate an individual farm’s risk-reduction program. Workshop Locations Across the State: Workshop Location: Sampson County Livestock Facility, 1020 Taylors Bridge Hwy, Clinton NC 28328 Dates: March 30 & 31, 2016 Times: 9 AM to 5 PM Registration Deadline: One week before class date Registration is $25 (check or money order ONLY made payable to County of Sampson) and includes lunch and snacks both days. Space is limited (10-12 participants) and available on a first come, first served basis. For more information or to register, contact Patricia Burch by registration deadline by phone 910-592-7161 or email patricia_burch@ncsu.edu. Workshop Location: Pitt County Agriculture Center, 403 Government Circle, Greenville, NC Workshop Dates: March 15 & 16, 2016 Times: 9 AM to 5 PM Registration Deadline: March 8, 2016 Registration is $25 (check or money order ONLY made payable to Pitt County Mutual Exchange) and includes lunch both days. Space is limited (10-12 participants) and available on a first come, first served basis. For more information or to register, contact Carol Haywood by March 8, 2016, at 252-902-1709 or carol_haywood@ncsu.edu. Workshop Location: Watauga County Agricultural Conference Center, Boone, NC 28607 Dates: February 8 & 22, 2016 ( Snow date of February 29,2016) Times: 9 AM to 5 PM Registration Deadline: January 29, 2016 Registration is $50 (check or money order ONLY made payable to Watauga County Cooperative Extension) and includes lunch both days. Space is limited to 12 participants and available on a first come, first served basis. For more information, contact Richard Boylan at rjboylan@ncsu.edu or call Watauga County Cooperative Extension at 828-264-3061. To register, call Watauga County Cooperative Extension at 828-264-306 before registration deadline of 1/29/16. Workshop Location: Tri-County Center for Applied Technology, Marble, NC Dates: January 19 & 20, 2016 Times: 9 AM to 5 PM Registration Deadline: January 14, 2016 Registration is $35 and includes lunch both days. Space is limited (10-12 participants) and available on a first come basis. To register or for questions regarding workshop please call 837-2210 or email keith_wood@ncsu.edu by the registration deadline of January 14th. This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2013-68004-20363. If you have any questions, please contact: NC Cooperative Extension: Diane Ducharme (Diane_Ducharme@ncsu.edu), 704-250-5402 CFSA: James Cooper (James@carolinafarmstewards.org)
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Strawberry Food
Safety
Strawberry specific resources can be found here Information was created to address specific strawberry food safety practices that growers can utilize with direct markets such as farmers markets, pick-your-own (PYO), and community supported agriculture (CSA). This project’s resources are provided working in partnership with the NC Strawberry Association, NC Cooperative Extension, and the NC Department of Agriculture and is supported in part by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
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FSMA Final PC Rule
and Final Produce Rule
Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) September 17, 2015 President Obama signed FSMA into law in 2011. With this law, 7 rules were proposed that spanned the food supply chain from on the farm through transportation to the market. For the first time, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a legislative mandate to require comprehensive, science-based preventive controls across the food supply. Currently, FDA is responsible for regulating foods that include dietary supplements, bottled water, food additives, infant formulas, and most foods that are not covered by USDA (generally meats, poultry and egg products). Two rules of interest to the fruit and vegetable industry include the Preventive Controls Rule (aka Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food) and the Produce Rule (aka Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption). BOTH the Preventative Controls and Produce Safety have final rules was published to the Federal Register. Final Produce Safety Rule The final rule is a combination of the original proposal and revisions outlined in the supplemental proposal, with additional changes as appropriate. The definition of “farm” and related terms were revised in the final Preventive Controls for Human Food rule, and the same definitions of those terms are used in this rule to establish produce safety standards. Operations whose only activities are within the farm definition are not required to register with FDA as food facilities and thus are not subject to the preventive controls regulations. Factsheet can be found here on the final rule Final Preventative Controls Rule The final rule has elements of both the original and supplemental proposals, in addition to new requirements that are the outgrowth of public input received during the comment period for both proposals. For example, flexibility has been built into key requirements, including control of the supply chain, and the definition of farms— which are exempt from these regulations— has significantly changed to reflect modern farming practices. Factsheet can be found here on the final rule Distinguishing what rules apply, the Preventative Controls Rule or Produce Rule or both, will be important! In order to do this, farmers will need to determine if their operations are defined as “farms” under FSMA. If the operations can be defined as “farms”, they are not subject to the preventive controls rule, but may need to comply with the final Produce Rule. Definition of Farm: The definition of a ‘farm’ is clarified to cover two types of farm operations. Operations defined as farms are not subject to the preventive controls rule. Primary Production Farm: This is an operation under one management in one general, but not necessarily contiguous, location devoted to the growing of crops, the harvesting of crops, the raising of animals (including seafood), or any combination of these activities. This kind of farm can pack or hold raw agricultural commodities such as fresh produce and may conduct certain manufacturing/processing activities, such as dehydrating grapes to produce raisins and packaging and labeling raisins.The supplemental rule proposed, and the final rule includes, a change to expand the definition of “farm” to include packing or holding raw agricultural commodities (such as fresh produce) that are grown on a farm under a different ownership. The final rule also includes within the “farm” definition companies that solely harvest crops from farms. Secondary Activities Farm: This is an operation not located on the Primary Production Farm that is devoted to harvesting, packing and/or holding raw agricultural commodities. It must be majority owned by the Primary Production Farm that supplies the majority of the raw agricultural commodities harvested, packed, or held by the Secondary Activities Farm.This definition for a Secondary Activities Farm was provided, in part, so that farmers involved in certain formerly off-farm packing now fit under the definition of “farm,” as the packing is still part of the farming operation. In addition to off-farm produce packing operations, another example of a Secondary Activities Farm could be an operation in which nuts are hulled and dehydrated by an operation not located at the orchard before going to a processing plant. If the farmer that owns the orchards and supplies the majority of the nuts is a majority owner of the hulling/dehydrating facility, that operation is a Secondary Activities Farm. Primary Production and Secondary Activities Farms conducting activities on produce covered by the Produce Safety Rule will be required to comply with that rule. Background Information Produce Safety Standards under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Introduction to FSMA Produce Rule as well as the guidance rules, and Produce Safety Alliance information. Redline Comparison of Original Proposed Rule to Supplemental Proposed Produce Rule This document shows the changes made with the addition of the supplemental rule on Produce safety rule. Produce Safety Proposed Supplemental Rule Based on FDA’s outreach efforts and public comments, the FDA is proposing revisions to its proposed rule on produce safety that are more flexible and less burdensome in key areas. Here is a summary of the key provisions. Does the FSMA Proposed Rule for Produce Safety Apply to You? What You Need to Know About Proposed Rule This will take you through a flow chart to determine if the proposed Produce Safety rule applies to your farm. FSMA Proposed Rule for Produce Safety: Information on Specific Provisions from supplemental Produce Rule This link will provide summary information on the supplemental provisions proposed in the Produce Safety Rule. FACTSHEET on Supplemental Produce Safety Rules Agricultural Water – Proposed Microbial Standards This PDF provides a flowchart of the supplemental proposed water quality microbial standards of the Produce Safety Rule. PowerPoint Created to Assist Growers in Understanding Two of the Originally Proposed FSMA Rules In cooperation with the NC Fresh Produce Safety Task Force, NCSU/NC Cooperative Extension have developed a powerpoint slide presentation outlining the details of the proposed produce safety rule as well as the preventative controls rule.
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