Bridging knowledge gaps in food quality assurance to strengthen the foundation for food safety training.

Thelong-term goalof this proposal is to ensure the efficient implementation and sustainable development of Food Safety Plans developed in compliance with the Preventive Controls for Human Food regulation.Thehypothesisof this proposalis that strengthening understanding of quality assurance systems and the connection to food safety will enhance the development of robust Food Safety Plans that are relevant to employees at all management and processing levels and that are supported with the appropriate infrastructure needed to ensure their implementation and development.To achieve the long-term goal, this pilot project hasthree supporting objectives:Develop a series of four webinars covering basic concepts, techniques, and programs in quality assurance and quality control;Engage stakeholders, advertise, and deliver these webinars during a 1-year project period;Evaluate the training outcomes by analyzing data collected through beforeand after training assessments.