UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Is your farm in compliance with new federal food safety standards?
The Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule requires that at least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standardized curricula recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.
The Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training course is one way to fulfill this requirement. Approximately seven hours of instruction time will be spent on the following modules:
- Introduction to Produce Safety
- Worker Health, Hygiene and Training
- Wildlife, Domesticated Animals and Land Use
- Agricultural Water (Part 1: Production Water and Part 2: Postharvest Water)
- Postharvest Handling and Sanitation
- How to Develop a Farm Food Safety Plan
After attending the entire course, participants will be eligible to receive a certificate from the Association of Food and Drug Officials verifying that they have completed the training.
The Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training course will be presented at the following locations on these dates:
Centre County: Dec. 13, Miles Township Fire Hall, 102 Broad St., Rebersburg.
Chester County: Jan. 9, 2019, New Garden Township Building, 299 Starr Rd., Landenberg.
Bucks County: Jan. 16, 1282 Almshouse Road, Neshaminy Manor Center, Doylestown.
Hershey: Jan. 28, Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention, Hershey Convention Center, Hershey (717-694-3596).
Allegheny County: Feb. 18, Soergal’s Orchard, 2573 Brandt School Rd.,Wexford.
Lehigh County: Feb. 19, Penn State Lehigh Valley, 2809 Saucon Valley Rd., Center Valley.
Jefferson County: Feb. 25, Penn State DuBois DEF Building, Room 209, 1 College Place, DuBois.
Lancaster County: Feb. 26, Yoder's Restaurant, 14 S. Tower Rd., New Holland.
Cumberland County: March 6, Penn State Extension, 310 Allen Road, Carlisle.
Chester County (Spanish language option): March 21, New Garden Township Building, 299 Starr Rd., Landenberg. (This training will be conducted in Spanish.)
To register, go to extension.psu.edu/fsma-grower-training or call 877-345-0691. The standard registration fee is $150 per person; a discounted price of $20 per person (one per farm) is available for Pennsylvania commercial growers through support from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Checks, credit cards and debit cards are accepted.
Compliance dates for the Produce Safety Rule in the Food Safety Modernization Act are as follows:
- Very small operations ($25,000 to $250,000 annual revenue): January 2020.
- Small operations ($250,000 to $500,000 annual revenue): January 2019.
- All other operations (over $500,000 annual revenue): the compliance date was January 2018.
Produce growers who are not sure whether their farm is covered under the Food Safety Modernization Act can visit the Penn State Extension website at extension.psu.edu/fsmato learn more. For more information about the Grower Training Course, contact Jeff Stoltzfus at 717- 354-8116 or jhs3@psu.edu.