FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has contracted with Safe Food Alliance to host 26 Produce Safety Training classes through June 2019, for the second year in a row. The contract covers Central and Southern California counties beginning at Madera, Fresno, San Benito and Monterey along the north, to San Diego and Imperial along the south.
CDFA received federal funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to provide farmers with affordable access to food safety training courses. The courses being offered meet the requirements under the new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety rule for growers, whose first compliance dates were January of 2018 for the largest farms.
Safe Food Alliance has conducted over 40 Produce Safety trainings for 2100 growers since 2017, working with organizations such as the California Walnut Board, Almond Board of California, California Farm Bureau & Farm Employers Labor Service (FELS). Of the 18,893 individuals trained through the PSA Grower Training courses in the United States, Safe Food Alliance has trained 11% of those attendees.
Of the over 50,000 farms in California, 23,000 are expected to be covered under the Produce Safety Rule, one of several sections of the new FSMA law. As part of this Rule, these 23,000 farms must employ at least one individual who has completed a food safety training course which meets the requirements laid out in the new regulation.
Attendees of this course are eligible to receive a certificate from the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) which verifies that they have completed the recognized training course. Along with the standard curriculum, Safe Food Alliance will provide additional resources to attendees such as:
- Materials to help determine how the regulation applies to their farm
- Templates for creating required records
- A calculation tool to determine if a very small farm is exempt
- A list of allowable water treatment compounds
- Tools for conducting water analysis calculations
For more information about scheduled Produce Safety Grower Training Courses visit the Safe Food Alliance website at: https://safefoodalliance.com/event/. If you have specific questions about the course please contact foodsafety@safefoodalliance.com or Anila Mehmood at 916.561.5900.
Safe Food Alliance offers technical food safety services to assist growers, packers, processors, and manufacturers in meeting customer and regulatory requirements by understanding and applying recognized best practices for food safety and quality control management.
Contact:
Katie Edwards, Senior Marketing Manager
916.206.7445; KatieE@safefoodalliance.com
