To those worried about contributing sensitive information, both NASS and ERS will safeguard the privacy of all participants. Responses are kept strictly confidential, as required by federal law. Data collected from the NASS produce surveys will be provided to ERS, the lead agency for the project, without any information that could identify a particular operation. Further, any results published by ERS will be in aggregate form, ensuring no individual producer or operation can be identified.
Survey responses will provide information on food safety practices, costs, and the characteristics of each operation. These will be large surveys to capture the diversity of the produce industry in terms of commodities, regions, and firm size.
Going Forward
Without documented knowledge of where the industry’s food safety efforts were before the implementation of FSMA, it will be difficult to measure its impact. Some operations may already have food safety practices in place that exceed anything FSMA will require; others may have a great deal more to do once compliance becomes mandatory. Of course, some operations may not be covered by the rule or will have a qualified exemption based on size and marketing channels.
For these reasons, it is vital to gather as much data as possible from growers nationwide. “With the final Produce Safety rule published last year, this is the best chance for the produce industry to get a baseline assessment of where our food safety practices are today,” confirms David Gombas, senior vice president of food safety and technology for United Fresh Produce Association. “We’ve made strong investments in food safety since 1998, but we know we still have a ways to go. I encourage all fresh produce companies that are contacted to participate in this confidential survey to provide candid answers, not wishful thinking. We all know change is coming; please help the USDA find out where we are now,” he says.
How the Data Will Be Used
Data collected from the surveys will be used in a number of ways, from documenting the many changes in food safety practices since 1999 to examining the expected costs of FSMA compliance, as well as estimating its overall effect on the produce industry.
Other results include identifying the most crucial areas for future research and training efforts, and ensuring policymakers, trade organizations, and produce companies have the most up-to-date information to make decisions that could impact their businesses and the industry as a whole.
In addition, the survey will document and give credit to industry members for the food safety practices and protocols already in place, demonstrating how proactive the industry has been since the last data was collected 16 years ago. This is an opportunity to get a “pre-FSMA” look at produce food safety practices before the final FSMA rules must be implemented.
Results will provide a basis from which to move forward, to guide research, training efforts, and FSMA policy for the guidance documents and implementation strategies still to come. There are open-ended issues in the current draft rules (such as soil amendments, etc.) which will benefit from the survey’s results to provide input for these discussions.
In conclusion, the upcoming NASS/ERS survey’s success is dependent on widespread acceptance and participation by the produce industry. Not only will results provide valuable data on food safety practices throughout the perishables industry, but they will raise awareness of FSMA’s final rules and upcoming implementation.
Fresh fruit and vegetable suppliers have a stake in the survey’s success and can gain immeasurably through their participation.
