Exploring Opportunities For Tennessee Department of Agriculture to Prepare to Implement Fda Rule: Standards For The Growing, Harvesting, Packing, & Holding of Produce For Human Consumption

Exploring Opportunities for Tennessee Department of Agriculture to Prepare to Implement FDA Rule:Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, & Holding of Produce for Human ConsumptionProject SummaryFDA's Regulation "Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for HumanConsumption" (Produce Safety Rule) offer science-based minimum food safety standards for the growing,harvesting, packing, and holding of produce, meaning fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption. Asthe Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) has not previously administered a produce regulatory programof this kind, the infrastructure to do so must be developed. TDA has therefore proposed to add a dedicatedProduce Specialist, Legal Counsel, and two field Produce Inspectors to existing staff resources to develop aproduce farm inventory, regulatory foundation and a comprehensive inspection, compliance and enforcementprogram. TDA is also proposing a partnership with the University of Tennessee, Institute of Agriculture (UTIA)as a subawardee of this project to assist TDA in developing a strong education and outreach program, toeducate and provide technical assistance to producers as well as training programs for regulatory field staff.TDA intends to use these resources to conduct preliminary research as to the current status of the produceindustry in Tennessee, including how many farms and what types of produce operations are in place. A legalreview comparing current state rules and regulations to the requirements of the Produce Safety Rule to identifygaps in requirements, and given the findings of industry research, develop a regulatory foundation to support astate Produce Safety regulatory program in support of the federal rule. The UTIA partnership will help TDAensure that regulatory requirements achieve their goals of reducing foodborne illness risks to the public. TheUTIA education and outreach program will assist producers in achieving compliance with requirements giventheir operational needs to maintain production. It expected all of these components will be necessary to build arobust produce safety system that will be sustainable beyond the life of the cooperative agreement project.