Oregon Cooperative Agreement to Enhance Food Safety

PSR Grant Project SummaryThe Oregon Department of Agriculture's (ODA)'s objective relative tothe Produce Safety Rule (PSR) grant is to expand its Food SafetyProgram through review of our regulatory framework for PSRimplementation, establishing an inventory of produce farms in Oregon,conducting on-farm readiness reviews and making investments inoutreach and education to Oregon produce farms with the goal ofpreventing foodborne illness associated with production of fresh fruitsand vegetables.Specifically, ODA intends to work with specialized legal staff todetermine ODA's regulatory authority to implement the PSR anddevelop legislative concepts to obtain necessary legal authority foreffective PSR implementation. Additionally, ODA will work to developan inventory of produce farms in Oregon. ODA also plans to work withFDA and partners to test and deliver the Food Safety Alliance ProduceSafety Rule training, conduct on-farm readiness reviews, designcommunication plans, offer technical assistance, establish internal andexternal performance measurements, pursue program adaptivemanagement and create a database to share produce safetyinformation with FDA and partners. Toward that end, ODA has alreadybegun conducting significant outreach to stakeholders that may beregulated by the PSR. Additionally, ODA has been selected toparticipate in the NASDA On-Farm Readiness Review Pilot project thatwill train ODA food safety outreach coordinators to work with packersand growers on effective produce safety operations and to perform on-farm reviews.ODA's Food Safety Program works diligently to minimize the risk offoodborne illness. ODA recognizes that Produce Safety Ruleimplementation is a further step toward that goal and hopes to workclosely with the FDA to effectively implement the PSR. ODA views thegoals of the PSR grant as a good first step in developing theinfrastructure required for effective PSR implementation.