US (OH): Upcoming sessions target on-farm food safety for fruit, vegetable growers
The Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) sessions provide produce growers the basics of on-farm food safety.
In addition, participants will hear the latest news on revisions that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is making to proposed regulations for produce growers under the Food Safety Modernization Act, said Lindsey Hoover, the program’s coordinator. The program is a combined effort of Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, the outreach and research arms of the university’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
The FDA will likely publish its revisions in early summer. Soon after, Hoover said, she plans to schedule listening sessions about the proposed rules and encourage growers to submit comments on them.
“I believe when the initial proposal was made public last year, the FDA received about 18,000 comments,” Hoover said. The agency “had a change of thinking on some issues because of the response from growers and other industry stakeholders.”
The FDA is expected to modify some key provisions it had proposed in the produce safety rule, Hoover said, including those involving water quality standards and testing and the use of raw manure and compost as fertilizer.
“The FDA seems to want to accommodate growers’ concerns while still making sure produce is as safe as possible,” she said.
Growers interested in attending listening sessions when the new rules are released may watch for announcements on the program’s website, producesafety.osu.edu, or contact Hoover at 330-202-3555, ext. 2918, or hoover.482@osu.edu.
In the meantime, Ohio growers can attend the upcoming GAPs sessions listed at extension.osu.edu.