Integration of FSMA produce safety outreach and education into extension initiatives in Oregon

The overall goal of this proposal is to build upon the food safety outreach program at the Oregon State University (OSU) Food Innovation Center and the North Willamette Research and Extension Center that will address knowledge and resource gaps in delivering Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)-compliant food safety training, education, outreach and technical assistance to the produce industry in Oregon. The overall goal will be accomplished through the following specific objectives:Objective 1. Adapt PSA curriculum to medium, small and very small growers and produce processors in PNW to include grower engagement, region-specific practices and commodities, and bilingual materials.Built upon the backbone of OSU Extension Services at the Food Innovation Center and the North Willamette Research and Extension Center food safety programs, and the food safety network created by WRCEFS, we will adapt PSA curriculum to the western region specific-practices and design workshops that will incorporate add-on materials developed by WRCEFS. We will recruit and engage four produce farms/ facilities during the curriculum adaptation process to develop model food safety and farm food safety plans specific to a number of PNW commodities. These plans will also be translated into Spanish and shared with WRCEFS. Additionally, we will incorporate grower and processor engagement during workshops to allow each participant to develop food safety and farm food safety plans relevant to their food commodities and farms/facilities.Objective 2. Deliver adapted PSA curriculum to medium, small, and very small growers and produce processors in Oregon.We will deliver a total of four FSMA-related workshops based on the PSA curriculum with western region add-ons over the period of two years to medium, small, and very small growers and produce processors in Oregon. To aid in this objective's completion, we will use the existing infrastructure and grower/processor networks developed through the food entrepreneur and produce training programs at OSU's Food Innovation Center and the North Willamette Research and Extension Center. These workshops will be complimentary to the planned introductory FSMA and pre-PSA training efforts in 2018 at the Food Innovation Center, and the North Willamette Research and Extension Center targeting berry growers.Objective 3. Evaluate the impacts of education and training activities.Measurement of the impacts of the education and training component will be performed on an annual basis, modeled after the evaluation tools developed by WRCEFS. Targeting outcomes of programs (TOP) model will be used to allow for uniformity in food safety outreach data collection in the western region, and assess the impact of the outreach programs. TOP model is focused on both process and outcome indicators, which will promote discussions with the project team regarding progress towards project goals and areas for improvement. Monitoring and evaluation will occur on an ongoing basis throughout the span of the project.