Visit the 2013 Ag Convention & Trade Show for the next Food Safety & Audit Training on February 7th, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Cost included in the convention fees. Topics covered: Food Safety Modernization Act Proposed Rules, Harmonized Food Safety Standards, How to develop a food safety plan for your operation and risk assessment.

NOFA is sponsoring two food safety trainings: February 11th and February 19th. Both classes will be held at the RCE Mercer County office, 930 Spruce St., Trenton, NJ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. $25 for NOFA members/$30 for non-members. Questions? call 908-371-1111 x4 and visit: www.nofanj.org/programs_foodsafety.htm to register for the classes.

Blueberry Food Safety Training on February 20th at the Marucci Center for Blueberry & Cranberry Research and Extension, 125A Lake Oswego Rd., Chatsworth, NJ. 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.; $25 includes lunch. To register call 609-726-1590

Obtain up-to-date information at the Food Safety & Harmonized Audit Training on March 1st at the RCE Cumberland County office, 291 Morton Avenue, Rosenhayn. $25 includes lunch and materials; 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. To register call 856-451-2800 x1

The Food and Drug Administration released their proposed Standards for “Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption” today. This is a 547 page document. There is a 7 page executive summary at the beginning which will serve most people. The comment period for the proposed rules end May 16, 2013.

We will be putting out more information for growers over the next couple weeks as there is time to digest the document. Growers should be encouraged to at least review the summary since this rule will impact most growers in New Jersey. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact Meredith Melendez or myself.

Website Announcement
Proposed Rule under FSMA for Produce: Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption

Document
Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption

The demands placed on farm operators, in terms of food safety documentation, are overwhelming. Growers are dealing with changing and conflicting guidelines from their wholesale customers as well as government entities. No matter that the dust has yet to settle on what practices make sense and what documentation requirements are reasonable for farm operators to perform, the bottom line is this: your operation needs to have a farm food safety plan in writing.

To ease the burden, we’ve gathered information on what needs to be in your farm food safety plan based on current guidelines. We will continue to update this information as it becomes available. [Read more…]

Part 11 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

– Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline

Part 10 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

– Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline

Part 10 of your farm food safety plan addresses field harvest and field packing activities. Your plan should document your actives and your pre-harvest assessment log. Field harvest assessment should be made the day prior to starting to harvest to ensure everything is in place to reduce the chance for product contamination. We covered the specifics of the pre-harvest assessment log in article number 6 of this series. If a field is harvested over several days each morning the assessment is repeated.

The following statements should be included in your Field Harvest and Field Packing Activities section: [Read more…]

Part 9 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

– Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline