Designing A Produce Safety Program in The State of Utah in Preparation of Implementation of The Fda Produce Safety Rule

Project Summary/AbstractOrganization: State of Utah, Department of Agriculture and FoodFunding Opportunity Announcement Number: PAR-16-137The mission statement for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) is to promote thehealthy growth of Utah agriculture, conserve our natural resources and protect our food supply.Our priorities are to improve communication and awareness of agriculture, ensure food safety andconsumer protection, and to build partnerships and advocates. UDAF endeavors to utilize the FDAProduce Safety Rule (PSR), a science-based, preventive rule for the safe growing, harvesting,packing, and holding of produce, to advance our mission. We seek to participate in FDA's formalcollaboration opportunity found in PAR-16-137 (State and Territory Cooperative Agreement toEnhance Produce Safety in Preparation of Implementation of FDA's Rule: Standards for theGrowing, Harvesting, Packing, & Holding of Produce for Human Consumption), a cooperativeagreement that will assist UDAF with the implementation of the PSR.The broad, long-term objectives of UDAF, via the program, are to establish a multi-faceted foodsafety program to encourage the safe production of fresh produce and to promote compliance withthe requirements of the Produce Safety Rule. The specific aims of UDAF are to update Utah Code toexpand our jurisdiction to include farms; establish and maintain a produce farm inventory byrequiring farms to register with UDAF; develop a produce landscape that assists with riskcategorization of farms; provide resources for the produce safety program's infrastructureincluding staffing and IT development; collaborate with the FDA to develop a multi-year plan toimplement a new produce safety system and define performance measures; develop and provideeducation, outreach and technical assistance in multiple formats, prioritizing covered farms;develop and provide education, outreach and technical assistance to regulators; collaborate withthe FDA to design and implement a compliance program with sharable data; and develop programmeasurements to objectively measure progress utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data.The outcomes of the integration of the Produce Safety Rule are an educated regulatory and farmingcommunity as well as a robust inspection-based compliance program. These outcomes benefit Utahby ensuring food safety, promoting the healthy growth of Utah agriculture, and buildingpartnerships and advocates.