Need a food safety training certificate for a third party audit or the FSMA Produce Safety Rule? Join us on September 11th at Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Mercer County in Ewing, NJ. For more details visit our online registration page.
On-Farm Food Safety Section
Keep up with the latest news on this dynamic topic that impacts growers on multiple levels. Developing a farm food safety plan is a good idea for all growers, and may be required as part of food safety audits if you sell to certain buyers.
View NJAES On-Farm Food Safety Publications
July 25, 2019 Meredith Melendez
On-Farm Food Safety Certificate Training 9/11/19
May 3, 2019 Wes Kline and Meredith Melendez
Are you required to let the public bring their animals onto your retail farm?
An increasing number of customers are bringing animals with them when they visit farm markets, pick your own farms, or agritainment activities. Animals can pose a food safety risk to produce, introduce disease to farm animals, frighten or upset farm animals. Outside animals can also pose a risk to employees and other market customers and farm visitors. Farmers need to consider these occurrences when keeping in compliance with regulations and buyer requirements specific to food safety and biosecurity to protect their farm animals. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) governs what you are legally allowed to do in regards to customers with service animals visiting your market or on your farm. This fact sheet will cover the specifics of the ADA, animals that are not protected by the ADA regulations, and how to reduce potential risk on your farm from outside animals. States often have regulations that go beyond the federal ADA regulation, information represented in this fact sheet is specific to New Jersey. If you farm in another state please consult the state by state guide linked at the end of this article.
What do the ADA regulations cover?
While many types of animals can provide comfort and emotional support to their owners, only service animals are protected by the ADA, specifically Title II and III. The ADA regulations define “service animal” as dogs, and less commonly miniature ponies, that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities such as guiding a blind person, alerting people who are deaf, assisting a person in a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post [Read more…]
February 6, 2019 Rick VanVranken
Romaine: What happened and where do we go from here?
The Rutgers Cooperative Extension Food Safety Team invites you to attend a Town Hall Meeting to learn the roles of the Food and Drug Administration, New Jersey Department of Agriculture and the New Jersey Department of Health in the 2018 Romaine foodborne illness outbreaks and what the plans are for the future.
The meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 15, 2019 from 9:00 am to noon at the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Cumberland County, 291 Morton Ave. in Millville, NJ 08332.
Douglas H. Fisher, NJ Secretary of Agriculture; Tom Beaver, Director of NJDA Division of Marketing and Development; Chris Kleinguenther, Bureau Chief of NJDA Division of Marketing and Development; and Wesley Kline, Rutgers Cooperative Extension will discuss the steps that were taken for past outbreaks and what can be done for future outbreaks.
This event is free, and lunch will be served. Please RSVP to Charlotte at Charlotte.Muetter@ag.nj.gov or 856-839-3377 on or before February 13 if you are planning to attend.
May 31, 2018 Michelle Infante-Casella
Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County Has New Office Location
County Agricultural Agents, Michelle Infante-Casella and Hemant Gohil have a new office location in Gloucester County. The Rutgers Cooperative Extension (RCE) Office in Gloucester County relocated last week. The new location is now at the Shady Lane County Complex, 254 County House Road, Clarksboro, NJ 08020. The entrance is on the right side of the main 3-story brick building, under the numbers 254; follow the sidewalk with gray brick pavers.
Entrance to the RCE of Gloucester County Offices down the sidewalk on the right.
The office also has a new phone number and Agricultural Agents and other staff can be reached at 856-224-8040 (Agriculture and Natural Resources is extension 1). This new complex provided by Gloucester County offers more office space and multiple options for educational programs. To the left side of the complex is a 4-classroom building, formerly the Gloucester County Fire Academy, that is now operated by Rowan College of Gloucester County, that can be utilized for extension education and other county-related events. The main office building has 3 conference rooms for small group meetings. RCE will still have access to the main auditorium at the former facility in Clayton. For more information about Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County see http://gloucester.njaes.rutgers.edu.
February 26, 2018 Rick VanVranken
US Food & Drug Administration Announces Microbiological Surveillance Sampling for Fresh Herbs (Cilantro, Basil & Parsley) to Continue Through 2018
The US FDA has announced an ongoing surveillance program started in October 2017 will continue through 2018 until they collect at least 1600 samples each of fresh cilantro, parsley and basil. FDA inspectors will be visiting farm packinghouses, wholesale packers, domestic and import warehouses and shippers, as well as retail purveyors, From their press release,
From 1996 to 2015, the FDA reported nine [food born illness] outbreaks linked to basil, parsley, and cilantro, which resulted in 2,699 illnesses and 84 hospitalizations. Four of the outbreaks were linked to basil, three to cilantro, and two to parsley.
February 23, 2018 Meredith Melendez
New Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety Website!
Visit the new Rutgers On-Farm Food Safety website for information on Good Agricultural Practices, the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule, and USDA Third Party Audits. Information can also be found on upcoming on-farm food safety workshops, publications and resources to help you understand and implement on-farm food safety practices.
