Category: Announcements

Produce Safety Program Prepares to Inspect “Large Farms” in Spring 2019

Posted in Announcements, Implementation, Regulation, Uncategorized

If you farm produce in California, you may have received a letter this week from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). The letter, mailed to thousands of produce farms across the state, contains important information about on-farm food safety inspections that will begin this Spring.

The inspections are part of a new law enacted in 2011 when then President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA. Since then, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been working out the details of how the new law will be implemented and working with state departments of agriculture who will assist in performing on-farm inspections. In the next few months, these inspections will finally become reality for “large farms” across the U.S.

To start the process, CDFA utilized the Cal Ag Permits system, maintained by the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association and used by each county to issue pesticide application permits. Through this system, CDFA identified 20,000 produce farms in California they believe are covered under the Produce Safety Rule that is part of FSMA.

California has more produce farms by far than any other state in the nation and the job of inspecting them is huge.

Of the 20,000 produce farms in California, 12,000 have average annual sales of $500,000 or more and are considered “large farms” under the Produce Safety Rule. Only these large farms will be subject to inspections at first and these are the farms who will be receiving CDFA’s letter.

Inspections will be conducted through the Produce Safety Program, a new unit within CDFA’s Inspection Services Division. However, this unit will only be able to inspect a very small percentage of farms in any given year. Along with this week’s letters, a survey form was provided with questions that will help determine how farms will be prioritized for inspections.

It’s very important that farmers complete the questionnaire as completely and accurately as possible because the information will be used to prioritize inspections. Certain information, either known or unknown, about a farm will be weighed when determining which farms will be inspected first. Farm profiles with greater numerical totals may be given a higher priority for inspections and unknown data points are generally allocated the greatest numerical value.

The survey questionnaire can be found on the Produce Safety Program website here. We hope you will take advantage of the information provided on our website, e-newsletter or Facebook page which is designed to help farmers comply with the Produce Safety Rule.  We encourage you to check back for future updates.

FDA Issues Draft Guidance for Industry

Posted in Announcements, Regulation

Last month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the updated draft guidance for industry with respect to “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption.”  The purpose of this guidance is to help produce farms understand what they must do to comply with the requirements of the Produce Safety Rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act.

This is a signal that government is getting closer to requiring full compliance with this Rule and that corresponding inspections through the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Produce Safety Program are getting closer to reality.

The guidance is still in draft form and the public may weigh in with comments. You are encouraged to submit comments to FDA for consideration no later than April 22, 2019. Information on how to submit comments can be found here.

The draft guidance provides a broad range of recommendations on how to meet the requirements for most subparts of the rule. It is highly recommended that you review the draft guidance itself for complete information. But, in addition to the draft guidance, there is an At-a-Glance overview of key points in each of the nine chapters which are as follows:

Chapter 1: General Provisions

Chapter 2: Personnel Qualifications and Training

Chapter 3: Health and Hygiene

Chapter 4: Biological Soil Amendments of Animal Origin and Human Waste

Chapter 5: Domesticated and Wild Animals

Chapter 6: Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding Activities

Chapter 7:  Equipment, Tools, Buildings and Sanitation

Chapter 8: Records

Chapter 9: Variances

A series of public hearings is also being held around the country in the coming months.  Included is one in California. That meeting is scheduled for November 29, 2018 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at the Doubletree Suites by Hilton in the Anaheim Resort Convention Center located at 2085 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92802. You may find more information about the meeting and can register online here.  An option to participate via webcast is also available.

In the coming months, the Produce Safety Program plans to post much more information about the draft guidance to assist California produce farms in understanding what is expected of them. The law is in effect now and official inspections will begin in 2019. In the meantime, we encourage you to sign up to receive regular updates on implementation of the Produce Safety Rule in California here. This is the best way for California produce farms to stay abreast of additional developments and resources about the Produce Safety Rule.

E-Newsletter Created to Educate Farmers on Produce Safety Rule

Posted in Announcements

 

The California Department of Agriculture’s (CDFA) Produce Safety Program is now circulating an e-newsletter that provides regular updates on topics relating to the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety Rule. This Produce Safety e-newsletter will regularly include information to assist California farmers in making sure their operations comply with the Produce Safety Rule before government inspections begin in 2019. Anyone interested can sign up for the Produce Safety Program’s e-newsletter here.

As part of the new website created for CDFA’s Produce Safety Program, a monthly blog is featured. The e-newsletter will distribute this blog to subscribers along with additional information and updates on the Produce Safety Rule.

One topic to be featured in upcoming newsletters concerns On-Farm Readiness Reviews (OFRRs). OFRRs are non-regulatory demonstrations designed to give farmers a better understanding of what they can expect from routine inspections provided by our new Produce Safety Program unit under CDFA. You’ll be hearing more about these OFRRs in the coming weeks and we strongly urge produce industry groups to schedule an OFRR now. You can do so on our website here.

We are working to get more produce farmers signed up to receive our Produce Safety Program e-newsletter. We’re asking for assistance from California’s network of produce-related commodity boards, commissions and associations, many of whom have their own newsletters or magazines. To help in this effort, we ask that you please include information about our new e-newsletter in your upcoming grower publications. To make it easy, we’ve provided the following information you can cut and paste:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sign up for CDFA e-Newsletter on Produce Safety Rule

Attention produce farmers [or fill in the specific commodity], would you like more information about new food safety regulations you are required to follow under the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety Rule? The California Department of Food and Agriculture has created a new website and newsletter designed specifically to educate California produce farmers on how to comply with this new regulation. You can sign up to receive this e-newsletter here. [link = https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/producesafety/mailinglist.html]

The newsletter will be distributed monthly by CDFA’s new Produce Safety Program, which is charged with implementing the Produce Safety Rule in California. You can learn more about this program on their website. [link = https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/producesafety/]

[produce association name] urges you to sign up to receive this newsletter as all of us in California produce farming learn about what will be expected of us in the coming months and years.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Getting information out to California produce farmers through our newsletter and website will help achieve our vision for 100 percent compliance with the Produce Safety Rule so that our state continues to grow the safest produce possible.

Produce Safety Program Launches Website

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Efforts are underway to educate California produce farmers about new food safety regulations which took effect nationwide in January as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act. A new website launched by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) focuses on helping California farmers understand how to comply with the Produce Safety Rule.

The website introduces users to the Produce Safety Program, a new unit operating under CDFA’s Inspection Services Division. The Produce Safety Program is responsible for conducting on-farm inspections on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to verify compliance with the Produce Safety Rule among California fruit, vegetable and nut farmers.

It’s estimated some 20,000 California produce farms are covered under this new regulation. The job of bringing these farms into compliance with the Produce Safety Rule is a very large task and CDFA is committed to educating farmers before we begin regulating them.

The FDA has determined that on-farm inspections to verify compliance with the Produce Safety Rule will not begin until 2019. This gives CDFA time to begin getting the word out to farmers about how to comply with the new regulation. This new website is designed to do just that.

The website is structured in three areas — Educate, Implement and Regulate. This makes it easy for farmers to understand the various components of the new regulations. As an example, under the Educate section, farmers can easily learn how to comply with one of the initial requirements of the Produce Safety Rule which require every produce farm to have an employee who has been certified in a Produce Safety Rule Grower Training course. The website provides links to lists of available courses where farmers can register for one of these required courses on-line. The classes are conducted in both English and Spanish and CDFA has received funding from FDA, so the courses can be offered at reduced rates to California farmers.

Via the website, produce farms and industry members can join a mailing list to receive regular updates from the Produce Safety Program. The mailing list will be used to distribute a monthly blog with additional information on the many compliance issues that are part of the new regulations. The Produce Safety Program also has a Facebook page.

The Produce Safety Program plans to spend the coming year doing everything possible to inform and educate California produce farmers about the requirements of the Produce Safety Rule. We encourage produce farmers and associations to visit the website site and to share the link widely.

The vision of the Produce Safety Program is for 100 percent compliance with the Produce Safety Rule. Our hope is that required food safety practices will become ingrained in the culture of California produce farming so that our state continues to grow the safest produce possible.