Success StoryPBPT Farmers’ Market sampling and food safety presentation for Nutrition Education Program Assistants and Staff



PBPT Farmers’ Market sampling and food safety presentation for Nutrition Education Program Assistants and Staff

Author: Paul Vijayakumar

Planning Unit: Animal and Food Sciences

Major Program: Local Food Systems

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

Kentucky GAP program was revamped by a joint effort between KDA and Food Systems Innovation Center. This update was necessary to include the latest information and practices from the new Federal Food Safety Modernization Act, Produce Safety Rule implemented by the FDA in 2016. New training will be offered to growers who offer raw samples at farmers market approved by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and roadside stands approved by Kentucky Farm Bureau. The new program is called “Produce Best Practices Training (PBPT).” The biggest change will be removing the existing video from the curriculum and instead adequately preparing agents to deliver in-person trainings to their producers. As the lead trainer for the state, I offered the PBPT Grower Training to at the Nutrition Education Program training in Lexington to 120 Nutrition Education Program (NEP) Assistants and 14 NEP State staff members. All the 134 trainees successfully completed the training to help growers offer safety prepared samples at farmers’ markets across the state. 







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