Food Safety Modernization Act Outreach And Technical Assistance For Current And Emerging Entrepreneurs

<p>Along with the progress in implementation of FSMA, stakeholders' concerns, particularly those who undergo new regulatory requirements for the first time in the history of the country, is gaining momentum. FSMA compliance is particularly critical and disconcerting for smaller operations and emerging entrepreneurs. Without food safety regulatory knowledge, these operations had to maintain only limited profit and/or regional market in order to remain within the FSMA exemption "box." Conduct and interpretation of FSMA water testing requirement is also a major concern of producers of raw agricultural commodities due to cost and lack of available laboratories capable of conducting the test. As such our proposal is a multidisciplinary Community Outreach endeavor for: (1) Development of a regional FSMA Advisory Panel; (2) Development of an Alternative Curricula for Small Stakeholders, and Expansion of Existing Training and Scholarship Programs; (3) Development of FSMA Tool Kit for Extension Agents; (4) Development of Water Testing Capability, Best Practices Guidelines, and a Mobile Water Testing Unit for Niche, Hard-to-reach Areas; (5) Expansion of Qualitative and Quantitative Needs Assessment and Development of Tennesseans' Producers and Processers FAQ Sheets.</p>