Have you heard about the new set of Federal food safety regulations and that small farms are exempt from this law? Come get the facts about the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)'s Produce Safety Rule (PSR) and learn how the practices in the rule are relevant to small farms and how your farm may be impacted by the PSR.  As part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the FDA developed “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption”, commonly referred to as the Produce Safety Rule (PSR).  The goal for this Rule is to minimize the risks for consumers of eating raw fruit and vegetables that could be contaminated with bacteria, viruses, or parasitic organisms that cause food borne illness.  The Produce Safety Rule targets produce (fruits and vegetables) that are usually eaten raw.  The intent of this workshop is to help you understand where your farm may falls under this regulation and learn about food safety practices that are relevant to small, diversified farms in NC.  Farm inspections are expected to start in the Spring of 2019 and even though most small and medium scale farms may be not covered or qualified exempt from some of the stipulations of the Rule all produce growers have the responsibility to grow, pack, and hold produce following safe practices.  Come learn with us!

Location:  103 S Bickett Blvd, Louisburg, NC 27549

Time:  Dinner will be served at 5:30 pm; the program will start at 6:00 pm

Presenter:  Dr. Chip Simmons is an Area Specialized Agent for food safety serving eastern NC.  His background is in environmental/public health microbiology and food safety.  He is a lead trainer for both the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) curriculum as well as the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance curriculum, the two training curricula currently approved for meeting the requirements for the FSMA Produce Safety Rule and the Food Safety Preventive Controls Rule, respectively.  He grew up on a farm in eastern NC and the focus of his efforts are to promote food safety on produce farms by helping growers understand and prepare for FSMA implementation as well as to assist growers in meeting their buyer requirements.