Success StoryFood Safety Outreach to Produce Growers in KY



Food Safety Outreach to Produce Growers in KY

Author: Casey Newcomb

Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences

Major Program: Local Food Systems

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

Many growers have become involved in produce as communities in Kentucky want more locally grown food. With the boom in produce growers, the need for produce safety has increased. After the passing of the Produce Safety Rule within the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) stepping into inspections, growers need to be made aware of produce safety practices. Many events have been attended in order to spread the “need to knows” of produce safety and the state requirements from KDA. Through conferences and farmer field days, growers are being made aware of the rule requirements as well as best practices in order to grow the safest produce. Within the last year, many events have been attended to spread the awareness of produce safety and the requirements of the regulation. Conferences attended and presented at include- Eastern Kentucky Farmer Conference, Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference, UK State Extension Conference, and 2021 USDA Foods Administrators’ Conference. Other events that were attended include the OAK Farmer Field Day at the UK Horticulture Farm and the Third Thursday Thing at KSU. Throughout these events, the produce safety team directly spoke to 157 people that attended the sessions. Indirectly, many growers and people that work with growers asked about implementation of produce safety. From these outreach opportunities, many produce growers became compliant with KDA by filling out the produce farm inventory survey and registered for the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training. There were also others that requested On-Farm Readiness Reviews (OFRR) in order to have more food safety support in their operation.