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Collaboration Is Key

Growers, compliance, and FSMA’s Produce Safety rule
Government Views

Working with FDA colleagues, AMS recently revised its voluntary GAPs audit verification program to ensure its alignment with the FDA Produce Safety rule, and the revised version was put into use this past summer.

Outreach Activities
Providing farms with opportunities for awareness, outreach, education, training, and technical assistance supports the FDA’s “educate before and while we regulate” refrain.

In this regard, as farms strive to meet Produce Safety rule compliance dates (January 2018, 2019, or 2020 based on size of operation, with additional time for agricultural water requirements), if an FDA or state regulatory inspector finds any insignificant deficiency, the initial goal is to guide the farm towards compliance rather than take punitive actions. This is a shift from the FDA’s historical enforcement response, but the goal remains the same—ensuring growers provide reliable, consistently safe produce in the marketplace for consumers.

Collaborative efforts that support these initiatives include AMS participation in a variety of stakeholder meetings, conferences, webinars, and Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower and Trainer sessions to provide information and updates on the Produce Safety rule. Most funding for PSA sessions is provided by the FDA, while AMS provides administrative oversight.

As of June 2017, there were PSA Grower Training courses in 36 different states with more than 4,200 participants; Train-the-Trainer courses in 25 states with more than 1,040 participants; and more than 145 Lead Trainers certified. Trainer applications continue to be reviewed, with 35 more lead trainer applications in the evaluation process.

The PSA website is continually updated to add new Grower and Trainer classes (upcoming courses can be found on PSA’s Training page). If there isn’t one in a specific area, local Cooperative Extension personnel or PSA staff can help find one nearby. The PSA also has training modules posted online and recently made available a Spanish language version of the curriculum. In addition, the USDA continues to review the standardized curriculum for potential updates and other improvements.

Regional Centers
The FDA and USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have partnered to fund Regional Centers that focus on advancing the understanding and practice of improved food safety among the small and medium-sized producers and processors, broken into four regions. The four regional centers are the Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety at the University of Vermont; the North Central Regional Center for FSMA Training, Extension, and Technical Assistance at Iowa State University; the Southern Center at the University of Florida; and the Western Regional Center to Enhance Food Safety at Oregon State University.

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