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Media contact: Selina Meiners, 202-720-3359
WASHINGTON, D.C. April 25, 2017 – The U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture
(NIFA) today announced $4.8 million in available funding to develop and
implement food safety training, education, extension, outreach, and technical
assistance projects. This funding, offered through the Food Safety Outreach
Program and administered by NIFA, will address the needs of owners and
operators of small to mid-sized farms, beginning farmers,
socially-disadvantaged farmers, small processors, or small fresh fruit and
vegetable merchant wholesalers.
“This
has been an excellent collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “We’ve
successfully expanded the program’s reach through establishment of a National
Coordination Center and four regional centers across the U.S.”
The
Food Safety Outreach
Program supports projects that encourage participants from
local communities, community based- and non-governmental organizations,
universities, extension, state and federal agencies that develop and implement
food safety outreach programs. These programs facilitate the integration of
Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) food safety guidelines into a variety of
agricultural production and processing systems, including conventional,
sustainable and organic systems. New projects will focus on, but are not
limited to, addressing knowledge and resource gaps for the target audience in
the areas of pre- and post-harvest water testing and sampling, soil amendments,
and developing supply chain programs and/or food safety plans. The program
continues to fund projects that develop bilingual and culturally-appropriate
training resources.
Eligible
applicants include:
- The
Cooperative Extension Service for a U.S. state or territory;
- Non-government
organizations and/or community-based organizations representing owners and
operators of farms, small food processors, or small fruit and vegetable
merchant wholesalers that have a commitment to public health and expertise in
administering programs that contribute to food safety;
- Federal,
state, local or tribal agencies;
- An
institution of higher education (as defined in Section 101(a) of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)) or a foundation maintained by an
institution of higher education;
- A
collaboration of two or more eligible entities.
The deadline for applications is June 6, 2017.
See the request for
application for details.
Since its
establishment in 2015, NIFA has invested more than $7.1 million through the
Food Safety Outreach Program. One of the program’s previously-funded projects
is the University of Florida’s Southern Center
for Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance to
Enhance Produce Safety. The Southern Center’s goal is to
build a collaborative infrastructure in Southern states to support FSMA-compliant
training, education, extension, outreach and technical assistance as it relates
to the produce industry. The Southern Center includes participation from
land-grant institutions in 13 states and Puerto Rico. Their Food Safety and
Preventative Controls Alliance (FSPCA) instructional training continues to
grow. To date, 52 FSPCA instructors have trained 830 participants and 108
Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) trainers. The PSA trainers have trained 136
participants, including program evaluators.
Another
previously-funded Food Safety Outreach Program project is Oregon State
University’s Western Regional
Center to Enhance Food Safety. The Western Regional Center’s
long-term goal is to improve food safety through training a wide array of
stakeholders, to include cooperation and leadership from every land-grant
university in Western states. Because of the diversity of crops and climate
zones within the Western Region, the project is divided into four sub-regions
that encompass 13 states and two territories. To date, 204 instructors have
been certified through eight FSPCA Preventative Controls for Human Food train‐the‐trainer courses.
These instructors have completed 315 FSPCA Preventative Control Qualified Individual
classes. Additionally, the Western Region has conducted six PSA train‐the-trainer
classes since September 2016. Produce Safety Rule training has reached at least
197 individuals. Due to the high demand for training, both Regional Centers
predict continuous growth over the course of the program.
NIFA invests in and
advances agricultural research, education, and extension and promotes
transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA
support for the best and brightest scientists and extension personnel has
resulted in user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that combat childhood
obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address water availability
issues, increase food production, find new sources of energy, mitigate climate
variability, and ensure food safety. To
learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates or follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts.
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