Comments on the revisions made to the produce safety rule are due on December 15th. Regular posts will be made to the Plant and Pest Advisory focusing on the changes that have been made. Please consider commenting on the produce rule!

Changes to Calculating Farm Sales for FSMA Compliance

The previous version of the produce rule set compliance thresholds based on total food sales values for a farm operation. This included all human and animal foods sold at the farm. The revised rule states that compliance threshold values will be determined by “average annual monetary value of produce.” This change was made as a result of many comments on the subject and will reduce the number of farms in New Jersey that will be required to comply with FSMA.

The revised produce rule is now available online and the FDA is accepting comments on the revisions.
To access the rule and comment visit the FDA FSMA Produce Rule webpage.  The comment period will remain open until December 15, 2014.

Today the FDA released key revisions for:

• Produce Safety Rule
• Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule
• Preventive Controls for Animal Food Rule
• Food Supply Verifications Programs for Importers of Food Rule

The comment period on the revised provisions will open on September 29th.

Corrective actions are a normal part of the third party audit process, and it can be expected that most growers will have at least one corrective action assigned to them. The question we have been hearing from growers repeatedly this season is, “Do I have to do anything about corrective actions if I pass the audit?” The answer is YES!

[Read more…]

The USDA GAPs and USDA Harmonized Third Party audits require that worker break areas be separate from where saleable product is handled.

The GAPs audit states “smoking and eating are confined to designated areas separate from where product is handled.” An auditor completing a GAPs audit will look to see that the break area is indeed separate from production areas and that workers are using the area as they should be. If personal items, such as lunch boxes, food items etc., are found in the production area the auditor will deduct points from the total GAPs audit score. In some cases the auditor may deem the risk of contamination too great and may stop the audit.
[Read more…]

Hand washing stations are an important part of your farm food safety goals.

Stations must be located at all bathroom facilities, ideally outside of the bathroom and in public view. Research has shown that people are much more likely to wash their hands if someone is watching them.  [Read more…]