Extension Offers Help to Produce Growers with New Regulations

In an effort to help produce growers comply with the new requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act, Penn State Extension has partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture on a new, voluntary program to conduct informal farm evaluations.

The Produce Safety Rule, under the federal law that was signed in 2016 – often referred to as FSMA – mandates new farm food safety standards for growing, harvesting, packing and holding fresh produce.

Supported by funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, extension educators will accompany Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture inspectors conducting “On-Farm Readiness Reviews.”

The reviews will be no-cost inspections of produce-growing operations to identify possible areas of improvement related to compliance with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.

Extension educators and state Department of Agriculture inspectors already have completed 30 such reviews this year and currently have more than 60 scheduled.

Compliance dates for enforcement of the regulations are phased in according to average annual produce sales. Large produce farms (those with annual sales of more than $500,000) were to begin complying with FSMA requirements in January of this year. Medium-sized farms (those with annual sales between $250,000 and $500,000) have until January of 2019, while smaller farms (annual sales between $25,000 and $250,000) have until January of 2020.

According to FSMA, within each farm category, an additional two years is granted for compliance with microbial standards for water that can come in contact with the harvestable part of the crop or food contact surfaces.

Expert appraisal

On-Farm Readiness Reviews are opportunities for produce growers to have their operations appraised by FSMA Produce Safety Rule experts from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Penn State Extension.

Growers also will be able to have conversations with the reviewers, according to Jeff Stoltzfus, an extension educator who is coordinating the On-Farm Readiness Reviews program for Penn State Extension.

“This is an opportunity to have their preharvest, harvest and postharvest conditions and practices evaluated, assess what they are doing well, and identify areas for improvement in food safety practices on their farms,” Stoltzfus said. “It is very important that routine farm processes and operations – such as harvesting, washing and packing activities – are happening during the visit so reviewers can make accurate recommendations for produce safety improvements specific to farms.”

On-Farm Readiness Reviews, which will take approximately four hours, depending on the size of the operation, are intended only to help farmers, said Luke LaBorde, Penn State professor of food science and food safety extension specialist for fruit and vegetable processing. They are conducted for farmers' benefit to identify areas for improvement to help them prepare for actual FSMA Produce Safety Rule inspections once compliance dates are reached.

“Reviewers are not there to conduct an audit, inspection or any type of regulatory assessment,” LaBorde said. “State inspectors and Penn State Extension educators will simply go to the farms that request reviews and tell farmers what they need to do to be in compliance.”

Providing ‘heads-up’

The presence of Extension educators should be reassuring to produce growers, LaBorde said.

“They are trusted advisors who will take the growers step-by-step through their farm operations and help them to see how close they are to meeting the new regulatory requirements, while giving them a heads up about what, if any, changes in their operations they will need to make,” he said.

A benefit that Penn State Extension provides farmers is that educators will be available later if follow-up consultations are necessary to help develop strategies for complying with the regulations.

More information

For more information on the Produce Safety Regulation, those interested may visit the Penn State Extension FSMA Produce Safety Rule website at https://extension.psu.edu/fsma, or contact Jeff Stoltzfus, statewide good agricultural practices Extension educator and FSMA produce safety lead trainer, at (717) 394-685 or by email at jhs3@psu.edu.

For regulatory questions on Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture activities that are related to the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, or to arrange an On-Farm Readiness Review, those interested may contact Lynn Zakos at (717) 787-1873 or by email at lzakos@pa.gov.