Food Safety Solutions for Farm Owners and Employees

Through this community outreach project, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) will provide education and support for food safety and Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) compliance for farms inMassachusetts, focusing on those businesses that fall outside of the priority areas identified by other service providers in the Commonwealth. Our goal is to fill gaps in current FSMA-related support by providing farms that are not currently being fully supported by state partners with targeted, individualized support in meeting FSMA guidelines. Specific objectives include the following:Objective 1: Provide customized support for three types of farms and aggregators that are underserved by existing agencies (working in close partnership with UMass Extension and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR)Produce Safety Team), including:(a) small farms that sell at least 50% of their products direct to consumers;(b) farms and aggregators doing light processing or producing value-added products; and(c) farms that must comply with Produce Safety Rule standards and require sustained, individualized support to enable them to initiate or complete the process.Objective 2: Support all farms in accessing available state and federal resources and training related to FSMA and food safety requirements.Objective 3: Provide food safety support and training for farm employees, especially those with low English or literacy skills.Objective 4:Increase CISA and partner staff capacity to provide targeted, individualized food safety outreach and education to specialized farm audiences.Objective 5: Work with the Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety (NECAFS), Massachusetts food safety partner organizations, and other Massachusetts agricultural service providers to create and implement an outreach plan to share project findings and materials.