The overarching goal of this project is to support the infrastructure of the national food safety program by communicating and coordinating information within the North Central Region (NCR) related to the Food Safety Modernization Act’s (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule and Preventive Control Rule.
The NCR FSMA Center has been funded by several rounds of funding through the FDA and USDA. The current grant funding began Sept. 1, 2024 and runs through August 2027.
The Objectives of the 2024-2027 grant are:
Objective 1: Continue to facilitate communication between educators, regulators, outreach staff, and other stakeholders to develop and maintain an active and effective food safety growing and processing network.
- Through in-person and virtual meetings.
- Through newsletters, emails, the website, and social media by sharing:
- Maintain a sustainable network in the midst of job transitions and decreasing staffing levels.
- Encourage communication between state regulators (under state or FDA authority) to increase consistency as FSMA regulations are applied across the region and country.
- Communicate and collaborate with other regional centers, the Lead Regional Center, and other organizations, such as LFSC, IFAI, PSA, FSPCA, etc.
Objective 2: Continue to facilitate coordination between those working with under-served audiences to advance the knowledge of industry, academia, and regulatory personnel.
- Through stipends for staff professional development and supplies for trainings geared towards under-served growers.
- Through new creation, review, and distribution of resources that are consistent with FSMA guidelines.
- Support FSOP awardees. These grantees present at webinars, annual conferences, and national FSOP events. We work with them to collect abstracts and evaluation data. We provide support to individual grantees, as needed.
- Encourage best practices for educators/regulators and provide technical assistance/sharing of resources/“how to” tips between educators. We will communicate best practices through newsletters, webinars, sessions at the annual conference, etc. We will continue to promote the resources that the NCR FSMA partners created in past iterations of the grant.
Objective 3: Offer specific education/outreach for those who work with produce growers.
- Convene a growing working group. This group of educators will work on a specific project to help familiarize regulators and educators with farming and apply for additional FSOP funding.
- Continue to develop Buyers’ Education.
- Expand the Michigan Farm Worker Texting Service to a regional/national service.
Objective 4: Offer specific education/outreach for those who work with processors and cottage food operators.
- Convene a processing working group. This group of educators will work on a specific project (yet to be identified) and apply for additional FSOP funding.
- Continue the work of the North Central Food Safety Extension Network (NCFSEN) Food Entrepreneurs team.
- Continue to offer several webinars per year for processor educators and regulators. When appropriate, invite small processors to join as well.
Objective 5: Implement actionable assessment and evaluation protocols for the Center and stakeholders.
The specific objectives of the 2021-2024 grant are:
Objective 1: Expand the produce safety network within the NCR
- Partnership building with organizations within states
- Stakeholder feedback boards of niche audiences
- Communication plan for audiences
- Smaller group events and larger group events
- Track participation
- Produce Centers and National Produce Network meetings will continue
Objective 2: Collaborate with and support the NCR produce safety network partners
- Increase collaboration efforts
- Support produce trainings (expand efforts)
- Support produce trainers (funding and people)
- Support FSOP projects
- More collaboration with other centers and programs
Objective 3: Create, modify, and validate safety training programs based on a needs assessment
- Informal needs assessment of training materials
- Modify and develop materials based on the needs assessment
- New materials reviewed and disseminated
Objective 4: Professional development of and technical assistance
- Deliver new food safety materials to growers, processors, and educators
- Provide technical assistance to produce safety network
The specific objectives of the 2018-2021 grant were:
- Objective 1: Expand the successfully established produce safety network within the NCR
- Objective 2: Develop and implement a communication system
- Objective 3: Support for Food Safety Outreach Program Awards
- Objective 4: Review of FSMA add-on materials and alternative curricula
- Objective 5: Professional development for a cadre of regional FSMA trainers
- Objective 6: Technical assistance to growers, processors, and vendors in the NCR
In partnership with educators, regulators, growers and food processors in all 12 states (Stakeholder Engagement), these objectives were achieved by expanding the regional produce safety network, supporting FSOP grant awardees, and providing training for regional FSMA stakeholders. The team built on the existing educational infrastructure specific to the NCR (Systems Approach) to leverage existing relationships with the other regional centers, local food and tribal centers, FDA, USDA, the State Departments of Agriculture, and other existing relationships. We supported and reviewed the development of add-on material and alternative curricula by FSOP awardees and extended technical assistance to the target audiences of growers, processors, vendors, and FSMA trainers.
National Collaboration
NCR FSMA will coordinate with the Lead Regional Coordination Center (LRCC) as led by Dr. Keith Schneider of the University of Florida (Southern) and regional centers by Elizabeth Newbold of University of Vermont (Northeast) and Dr. Jovana Kovacevic of Oregon State University (Western) to:
- Develop and execute an effective national communication plan;
- Identify national outputs and impacts developed by FSOP awardees;
- Review FSMA add-on material, alternative curricula, and additional materials developed by FSOP awardees; and
- Report outcomes, best practices, impact stories, and other evaluation metrics to LRCC for national stakeholder reporting.
Each regional center will takes lead of one component in collaboration with the LRCC as outlined in in the table below to review add-on materials and alternative curricula developed via FSOP awardees and others, market newly developed materials, and create impact stories.
Achieving these objectives through a team-based approach will result in long-term impacts on the region and the nation, reducing the incidences of foodborne illness, and laying the groundwork for a safer food supply
Questions? Email us at NCRFSMA@iastate.edu
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.
This work is supported by the Food Safety Outreach Program [grant no. 2018-70020-28877; grant no. 2021-70020-35732; and grant no. 2024-70020-42954] from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.