Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:This project outlines a plan to continue the current work of NECAFS with the addition of new activities based on stakeholder feedback and the evolving needs of our target audience. The long-term goal of NECAFS is to provide a sustainable, comprehensive food safety training, education, and technical assistance program that assists small- and mid-sized food producers and processors with FSMA compliance. Our overall objective is to sustain and nurture our established network foundation that supports a national food safety system to increase the understanding and adoption of established food safety standards, guidance, and protocols for those affected by FSMA. Our target audience includes the regulators and educators who work with the owners and operators of small and mid-sized produce farms, beginning farmers, socially-disadvantaged farmers, small processors, or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers in the Northeast region. Changes/Problems:Due to COVID we extended the project by one year. The NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting was held virtually instead of in-person. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Objective #2 - Build Capacity, Competency and Collaboration Conference posters were presented at the following events: North Central Annual Meeting - Created a poster highlighting the work of NECAFS in developing the Processors' Food Safety Toolkit Website. The poster was presented at the North Central Region's annual meeting to raise awareness for this new project to food safety colleagues. [75 contacts] National Association of State Departments of Agriculture - titled "The National Relevance of Regional Center Content Development: Leveraging NECAFS Activities and Outputs to Support National Level Food Safety Impact" [120 contacts] NECAFS Staff attended the following professional development opportunities Good Manufacturing Practices Webinar - aimed at farmers who conduct on farm processing to learn about good manufacturing practices. This served as both a refresher in good manufacturing practices and a learning experience on strategies to connect to and educate small and very small processors. Produce Safety Alliance Train-the-Trainer Course University of New Hampshire's 28-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge - virtual online series to learn more about racial inequity in food systems and strategies to implement change. Objective #3 - Development and Delivery of Educational Programming 2021 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, held virtually in February 2021 provided our network with the opportunity to collaborate and identify areas of action for the next year. We worked collaboratively with our Northeast Produce Safety Regulator partners this year to co-host a One-Day Regulator Working Meeting the day prior to the Annual Conference. Due to COVID, this annual meeting was shifted to a virtual platform. We hired Performedia services to host the meeting and facilitate the virtual components of the conference. One of the most important aspects of the NECAFS meeting is the opportunity for attendees to network. During this virtual Annual Meeting, the agenda provided specific opportunities to still provide attendees with networking opportunities. We hosted morning coffee hours, breakout group discussions, and a poster session. All conference materials from past Annual Meetings are posted on the NECAFS website at https://www.uvm.edu/extension/necafs/annual_meeting [249 attendees for 15.5 hours for 2,089.5 contact hours] Day one hosted the NE Produce Safety Regulator and Program Staff meeting. Their agenda discussed Mandatory Farm Registration with State presentations by Delaware, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Connecticut. Followed by Round table Q & A and Discussion with Presenting States. They then held a Group Exercise and Break Outs on Topics where Guidance is Lacking including Farm Definition Presentation, Q & A Farm definition - what are states doing while the farm definition is under review?, and Break out group discussions. Next, they discussed Program Standards with State Presentations to discuss the necessary flexibility needed to accommodate the differing authorities across the states and how those differences need to inform program standards (Maryland and New Jersey) and a NASDA and AFDO presentation on program standards. Then they discussed Research and Education Needs and Reviewed compiled misunderstanding and deficiencies seen on farms and had Group discussion. Days two and three hosted concurrent workgroup meetings. The Produce Safety Workgroup began with a Welcome and Review Group's Previous Discussion, recap of 2020 Produce Safety Workgroup discussion and NECAFS activities and overview of Plan for this year's Produce Safety Workgroup Meeting. Then the heard Presentations and Project Updates with a review of audit data from USDA and a report-out from regulator one-day working meeting, a consolidation of inspectional observations from across the region. Respondents reported that this was presentation was valuable and will be "helpful to guide education efforts going forward." More generally, many comments described the value of the inspectional data presentation to their understanding of "different roles in the region," "approaches to inspections," "PSR issues across states," and "confirmation of specific compliance challenges" on farms. The remainder of the day hosted breakout groups, the first discussed Step 1. Emerging and reoccurring produce safety issues. Intent is to identify what is the issue, what does it look like, and why is it happening? The second discussed Step 2. Planning for collaborative improvement. Intent is to develop action plans that help growers better respond to the specific issues identified. And the third discussed Step 3. Establishing a communication and collaboration framework for research and education activities. Intent is to describe how we build something that will provide sustained engagement around the topics identified as key produce safety issues. The Preventive Controls Workgroup heard an FSPCA Update with a General FSPCA Update and an FSPCA Curriculum Update. They then heard an FDA Update with an overview and description of PC inspectional roll-out in the Northeast. The group then discussed the regional Needs Assessment and reviewed the findings and gaps in data. They then dug into their 3 areas of work, first with a Review of PC Sub-group Goals and a presentation on background, overview of work and approaches to date. Then they heard a Resources Sub-Group Presentation with a presentation on project accomplishments and walk-through of draft Roadmap to Resources Website. They heard short presentations with project status from both the Evaluation Sub-Group and the Awareness Sub-Group. Presentations were presented at the following events: International Association of Food Protection program development group webinar titled "Foundations of Produce Safety in Hydroponic and Aquaponic Operations." This webinar was delivered in recognition of a lack of shared language and understanding among all of the stakeholder disciplines in HP/AP produce safety has led to a more fundamental educational approach. [252 attendees, 1 hour webinar for 252 contact hours] Factsheet Development Produce Safety in Hydroponic and Aquaponic Operations: This project began as an effort to address a handful of priority produce safety questions in HP/AP operations. After convening an advisory group (comprised of state and federal regulatory partners, educators, researchers, and growers), and conducting many one-on-one conversations with growers in this space, it became clear that the list of important research and compliance questions was vast and covered a broad range of topic areas. While principles-based guidance tailored to HP/AP operations can be provided in some circumstances, others require more applied research to inform understanding before making specific recommendations to growers. A set of 5 topic-based factsheets were developed to provide basic tailored guidance. They are intended to supplement, and not replace, the general guidance already available through the PSA Grower Training modules and other high-quality food safety resources that apply to agriculture more generally. Upon completion the factsheets will be posted to the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse and promoted through the networks of NECAFS, the other regional centers, and relevant professional associations. The 5 factsheet products of this activity will serve as pre-work for the recently initiated FSOP HP/AP project. We will continue with needs assessment and multimedia educational resource development for this underserved audience. The Factsheets developed cover the following topics and can be found at https://www.uvm.edu/extension/necafs/hp_ap_resources: Cleaning and Sanitizing Fish Health and Handling Harvest and Post-Harvest Health and Hygiene Wildlife and Domesticated Animals How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? A dedicated NECAFS email LISTSERV was established for "pull" communication by stakeholders [143 total subscribers, 14,400 emails exchanged from project start]. We have strengthened or Email eNewsletter distribution list for "push" communication. Subscription continues to grow on a regular basis with 102 new contacts in reporting period. Circulation has grown to 679 total subscribers with an average open rate of 41% and click through rate of 8%. Importantly, this network is highly engaged as demonstrated through top-tier industry open and click rates (above 30% open rate is considered "top-tier" across all industries. [6,656 cumulative contacts via eNewsletter with 2,352 unique opens and 591 click-throughs in the reporting period.] We have further developed the NECAFS suit of websites which serves as a location for permanent posting of project related information including recordings of past webinars and other documents. Extension Legal Services Initiative: [1,541 views by 567 users, with an average engagement time of 1:02, and 313 downloads for a total of 5.8 contact hours] Processors' Food Safety Toolkit: [1,702 views by 341 users, with an average engagement time of 1:36, and 89 downloads for a total of 12 contact hours] Usage of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse is national and is being accessed and used by visitors throughout the nation. [There are 767 resources published in the Clearinghouse (190 tagged as PCHF and 625 tagged as PSR) by 190 contributors] [In the reporting period there have been 23,552 page views in 11,040 sessions @ 1.54 min with 8,856 outbound clicks, 283 contact hours by 7,482 unique users] National Water Testing Lab Map: The map can be found at go.uvm.edu/waterlabmap. [There are currently 607 labs listed on the map which has 25,472 views]. 2021 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, held virtually in February 2022 provided our network with the opportunity to collaborate and identify areas of action for the next year. We worked collaboratively with our Northeast Produce Safety Regulator partners this year to co-host a One-Day Regulator Working Meeting the day prior to the Annual Conference. [249 attendees 2,089.5 contact]. NECAFS social media, Weekly Facebook and Twitter posts highlighted the work of NECAFS and partners. [Facebook; 52 posts, 728 page reach, 140 page visits, 13 new likes] [Twitter: 52 tweets, 15,500 impressions, 125 link clicks, 125 retweets, and 136 likes] What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective #1 - Sustain and Nurture Network Foundation Work groups are formalized with articulated goals and objectives and designated leadership. Below is an update on each workgroup: Preventive Controls Work Group established 3 areas of need: resources, evaluation, and awareness. To keep the network updated on the PCHF workgroup activities, an informational page on the NECAFS website was created to outline the working group's priorities, objectives, activities, and members. It includes monthly meeting minutes and information on joining the working group (https://www.uvm.edu/extension/necafs/pc-resources). Resources: Processors' Food Safety Toolkit website was developed Developed and conducted an assessment of the PFST website including recruiting 20 paid small processors to provide feedback on their user experience. This feedback was then analyzed and applied to the website. We launched a user experience survey of 20 small and very small processors to review the new Processor's Food Safety Toolkit website's design. 100% of processors said they would recommend this site to their peers and 82% said they found a new resource that they could use in their business. One processor reflected, "This page is great - one I wish I could find years ago!" Based on feedback we also implemented several changes to the site including making the FAQ section more visible and adding a broken link bot. The final website was launched on August 17th and the PCHF workgroup will continue to promote the site through a developed communication plan. [341 users with an average engagement time of 1:36 with 1,702 page views for a total of 7.7 contact hours] Evaluation: PCHF evaluation tool for use by lead instructors in the Northeast region was developed Developed and deployed a survey aimed at instructors of the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance's Preventive Controls Qualified Individual course. The objective is to evaluate the application of the FSPCA PCHF curriculum and determine what supports are needed for less experienced training participants to improve outcomes. Awareness: A regional educational needs assessment was administered to determine the needs of small and very small processors Conducted a needs assessment of food safety communicators' perspective on processors' awareness and knowledge of the PCHF rule and how it may impact their facility. An article that analyses and discusses the results of the needs assessment was drafted. The findings highlight the importance of improving outreach to processors to increase awareness of the PCHF rule and makes specific recommendations for specific strategies. The final needs assessment article will be submitted to Food Protection Trends in December 2022. The PCHF workgroup holds monthly meetings [12 monthly meetings] Need Assessment Work Group: This semisystematic review of 34 needs assessments from 2005 to 2020 summarized known produce safety needs and how those were influenced by a variety of factors among small- and medium-sized producers in the United States. Although growers face the needs of training, knowledge, time, capital, and mindset, the factors of farm size, region, market, and farm type influence how growers prioritize and are impacted by these needs. Therefore, educational programming cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach. It is essential to tailor education to the specific needs of producers while considering the various ways in which those needs can differ among specific groups of stakeholders because of influencing factors. The article titled "On-Farm Produce Safety: A Review of Needs Assessments of Small- and Medium-Sized Growers in the United States" was submitted to Food Protection Trends for peer review consideration on April 12, 2022, after two rounds of revisions, the paper was accepted for publication on July 26, 2022. The article will be published in the January/February edition of Food Protection Trends. Objective #4 - Evaluate and Assess Progress and Impact PSA Pre and Post Test Evaluation: NECAFS is engaged in collecting pre and post test information related to the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training course. [6 courses used the Pre and Post Test with a mean pre test score of 18.4 and a mean post test score of 21.5] NECAFS Programming Evaluation: Attendees at the NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting overwhelmingly reported that they learned something new (100%), most notably about increased knowledge about partner efforts. By learning more about these efforts, attendees described that they had a broadened understanding. One respondent summed it up by stating "I can't point to just one thing...it was just great exposure to a lot of new people, ideas, and real-world examples." Since the Annual Meeting was virtual and hosted several breakout groups, we learned that respondents really valued this approach as described here "the breakout groups were really positive because it provided space for everyone to contribute, even those who may be newer or more hesitant to speak to a larger group." Furthermore, regional produce safety inspectional non-compliance and misunderstanding observational data was presented for the first time and was very well received by attendees. Generally, we see that respondents learn new information based on the content that is presented at the Annual Meeting. The value to NECAFS future planning is when respondents provide comments with excitement or demonstrated fundamental learning based on approach or information shared. We saw that this year about breakout groups and presenting inspectional observational data and these successful topics or learning approaches will be used in future Annual Conference and Meeting planning. Attendees (95%) stated that they met someone new at the Annual Conference and Meeting and reported that this new relationship provides for enhanced networking and communication. It is noteworthy that 95% of attendees met someone new since the meeting was held virtually. To help facilitate networking and connection the agenda was built with several morning networking opportunities as well as several breakout group discussions. In the past when we met in-person, attendees indicated that collaborative conversation began at the meeting with follow-up planned. However, in the virtual space respondents did not create such collaborative relationships and reported that the new relationship "makes it easier to reach out for questions." When asked to describe key challenges in the region, attendees reported a need for topic specific outreach and education as their leading concern. The leading topic area was lack of food safety culture. Overall, when asked if NECAFS has helped improve food safety training, education, and outreach, 100% of attendees said yes and explained that this was accomplished through networking and communication with other stakeholders. Respondents' comments focused on "sharing resources" and "learning about other's approaches." It is unknown why there were so much new attendees, but it aligns with the networking and communication theme identified. On the collaboration continuum, communication and information sharing is an early step in forming trusting relationships (which networking and communication represents). When asked about specific NECAFS activities, (where 5 = excellent), 72% rated regional communication as 4 (41%) or 5 (31%), 66% rated building regional capacity, competence, and collaboration as 4 (33%) or 5 (33%), and 67% rated developing and delivering educational programs as 4 (36%) or 5 (31%). All three areas were consistent with 2020 ratings. The shift to a virtual Annual Conference and Meeting was successful. Attendees reported "Thanks so much! You did a wonderful job organizing this conference and there were many useful conversations. I'm looking forward to seeing where this evolves next!" and "Great meeting; best virtual meeting I have attended!"

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2023 Citation: Food Protection Trends "On-Farm Produce Safety: A Review of Needs Assessments of Small- and Medium-Sized Growers in the United States"
• Type: Websites Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2023 Citation: https://www.uvm.edu/extension/necafs/hp_ap_resources
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: https://pchf.necafs.org/

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience includes owners and operators of small and mid-sized produce farms, beginning farmers, socially-disadvantaged farmers, small processors, or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers in the Northeast region. Changes/Problems:COVID-19 Stopped all in-person trainings and because of this requests for funds through the training stipent support program slowed down The 2021 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting was shifted to be held virtually instead of in-person. We will hold the 2022 Annual Conference vitually again. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Objective #2 - Build Capacity, Competency and Collaboration The Training Stipend Support Program (TSSP) was launched in 2016 offering $2,000 of reimbursement funding for educators in the region to become trained as a lead instructor for PSA, SPROUT and/or the FSPCA curricula. Due to travel restrictions caused by COVID, the TSSP was not used heavily during the project period. NECAFS supported 3 trainers through this program [3 Virtual PSA TTT]. The TSSP was expanded in 2018 to offer $2,000 of reimbursement funding to support the delivery of educational programming for PSA, SPROUT and/or the FSPCA curricula. Again, due to COVID and travel restrictions, the TSSP for educational programming was not used heavily during the project period. [5 remote educational programs were supported]. Peer Review Process on the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse, a curated source for resources related to the Produce Safety Rule and the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule was expanded during the project period to include a Peer Review of Add-on Content Process. To ensure the quality and scientific and regulatory accuracy of add-on materials, the Western Regional Center to Enhance Food Safety (WRCEFS)developed the add-on content peer review process. The WRCEFS team further collaborated with the NECAFS to incorporate the review processinto the Clearinghouse. The entire Peer Review Process has been built into the Clearinghouse posting process with automated emails being sent to submitters and reviewers throughout the process. The three step review first begins when a person selects to have their content go through peer review prior to posting it publicly on the Clearinghouse. This peer review request results in a quality check by the WRCES editorial team. Once the resource clears quality check, peer reviewers are assigned and NECAFS links the resource to the reviewers Clearinghouse dashboard. Following review, if fully approved, WRCES approves the resource which automatically uploads onto the Clearinghouse with the peer review designation and date of approval. Outreach and awareness of the launch of the peer review process was completed this past spring and presentations were delivered at the four regional center annual meetings. [5 resources have been reviewed and approved through the peer review process]. Usage of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse, though heaviest in the Northeast, is national. Tthe Clearinghouse is being accessed and used by visitors throughout the nation. [There are 579 resources published in the Clearinghouse (138 tagged as PCHF and 465 tagged as PSR)] [In the reporting period there have been 25,506 total pageviews and 19,795 unique pageviews with an average session duration of 2 minutes and 31 seconds in a total of 10,520 sessions for a total of 405 contact hours by 7,013 users] National Water Testing Lab Map: NECAFS has continued to expand the national water testing lab map to include water testing labs across the United States. The goal of this map is to help produce growers locate a lab that is geographically close to their location and has the capability to perform at least one of these approved test methods. All the information included in this map has been confirmed by the lab so a grower can be confident that the lab can perform the test needed AND that the lab has received information about the testing methods required under the Produce Safety Rule. The map can be found at go.uvm.edu/waterlabmap. [There are currently 571 labs listed on the map which has 9,868 views]. Objective #3 - Development and Delivery of Educational Programming 2021 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, held virtually in February 2021 provided our network with the opportunity to collaborate and identify areas of action for the next year. We worked collaboratively with our Northeast Produce Safety Regulator partners this year to co-host a One-Day Regulator Working Meeting the day prior to the Annual Conference. The discussions from this working meeting directly informed the produce safety workgroup meetings during the Annual Conference and in conjunction provided information the network of on-farm inspectional observations seen during the 2020 inspection session. The common issues identified by inspectors where discussed in depth during the two-day Annual Conference in a series of break-out group session where root cases analysis exercises were competed to inform approaches to helping growers in the region. The preventive controls workgroup met concurrently and discussed project updates relating to the Resource, Evaluation, and Awareness work completed during the project period. [260 attendees, 2,720 contact hours]. All conference materials from past Annual Meetings are posted on the NECAFS website at https://www.uvm.edu/extension/necafs/annual_meeting Objective #5 - Sustain Good Work Funded Proposals: NECAFS successfully received 2 grants this year one for $385,000 and the other for $800,000 for continued NECAFS programming. The first takes two years of discussion and the produce safety workgroup planning and puts into action with an FSOP award to summarize and extend published produce safety research. The second continues NECAFS Center Programming as a Regional Center with an FSOP award. Proposed Grant Applications: Based on the needs identified during the produce safety work group meeting at the 2021 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, we submitted an application to the USDA AFRI CARE open RFA to articulate and prioritize produce safety research needs based on educational and inspection on-farm observational data. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? A dedicated NECAFS email LISTSERV was established for "pull" communication by stakeholders [112 total subscribers, 10,400 emails exchanged from project start]. We have strengthened or Email eNewsletter distribution list for "push" communication. Subscription continues to grow on a regular basis with 43 new contacts in reporting period. Circulation has grown to 577 total subscribers with an average open rate of 39% and click through rate of 25%. Importantly, this network is highly engaged as demonstrated through top-tier industry open and click rates (above 30% open rate is considered "top-tier" across all industries. [7,119 cumulative contacts via eNewsletter with 2,352 unique opens and 591 click-throughs in the reporting period.] We have further developed the NECAFS website which serves as a location for permanent posting of project related information including recordings of past webinars and other documents. [For reporting period, there were 1,608 pageviews in 1,080 session with 3:02 minute average session duration, 54:36 contact hours by 674 users.] Usage of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse, though heaviest in the Northeast, is national. Tthe Clearinghouse is being accessed and used by visitors throughout the nation. [There are 579 resources published in the Clearinghouse (138 tagged as PCHF and 465 tagged as PSR)] [In the reporting period there have been 25,506 total pageviews and 19,795 unique pageviews with an average session duration of 2 minutes and 31 seconds in a total of 10,520 sessions for a total of 405 contact hours by 7,013 users] National Water Testing Lab Map: NECAFS has continued to expand the national water testing lab map to include water testing labs across the United States. The goal of this map is to help produce growers locate a lab that is geographically close to their location and has the capability to perform at least one of these approved test methods. All the information included in this map has been confirmed by the lab so a grower can be confident that the lab can perform the test needed AND that the lab has received information about the testing methods required under the Produce Safety Rule. The map can be found at go.uvm.edu/waterlabmap. [There are currently 571 labs listed on the map which has 9,868 views]. 2021 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, held virtually in February 2021 provided our network with the opportunity to collaborate and identify areas of action for the next year. We worked collaboratively with our Northeast Produce Safety Regulator partners this year to co-host a One-Day Regulator Working Meeting the day prior to the Annual Conference. [260 attendees, 2,720 contact hours]. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continued promotion of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse Continued support of new of add-on/supplemental review process, in partnership with the Western Regional Center, administered through the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse Launce Spanish version of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse through webinar co-hosted with FDA Conduct national long-term look back survey of produce growers jointly with PSA, USDA and FDA Support cohort of trainers through PSA, FSPCA and SPROUT training via the Training Support Stipend Program (TSSP) including evaluation of the program Support delivery of PSA, FSPCA and SROUT educational programming via the TSSP including evaluation of the programming Continue to expand regional outreach and network development Continue to explore opportunities to sustain funding for NECAFS Plan and host NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting virtually, Jamuary 18-20, 2022 Continue to support Workgroup activities as needed with staff and additional resources Submit collaboration framework literature review for publication in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective #1 - Sustain and Nurture Network Foundation The basic communications infrastructure developed in year one has been further developed throughout this grant. A dedicated NECAFS email LISTSERV was established for "pull" communication by stakeholders [112 total subscribers, 10,400 emails exchanged from project start]. We have strengthened our Email eNewsletter distribution list for "push" communication. Subscription continues to grow on a regular basis with 43 new contacts in reporting period. Circulation has grown to 577 total subscribers with an average open rate of 39% and click through rate of 25%. Importantly, this network is highly engaged as demonstrated through top-tier industry open and click rates (above 30% open rate is considered "top-tier" across all industries. [7,119 cumulative contacts via eNewsletter with 2,352 unique opens and 591 click-throughs in the reporting period.] We have further developed the NECAFS website which serves as a location for permanent posting of project related information including recordings of past webinars and other documents. [For reporting period, there were 1,608 pageviews in 1,080 session with 3:02 minute average session duration, 54:36 contact hours by 674 users.] The project execution has been managed with Project Team Meetings that are held regularly monthly via teleconference with a standing agenda for project review and specific discussion about near term activities and action items. [12 coordinating calls with 60 cumulative project management hours]. National engagement has taken the form of collaboration with the other Regional Centers (RC's), the Tribal Foods Initiative, the Local Foods Initiative, the FSPCA, the PSA, the Lead Regional Coordination Center (LRCC) and our federal sponsor partners (FDA / USDA NIFA) through regular teleconferences that provide an opportunity for brief updates among the coordinating partners. [12 LRCC coordinating calls and 4 FSMA Collaborative Forum coordinating calls]. Work groups are formalized with articulated goals and objectives and designated leadership. Below is an update on each workgroup: Need Assessment Work Group: A systematic literature review of all published produce safety needs assessments completed in the Northeast region was submitted to the Journal of Extension in 2019 for publication consideration. Given an organizational restructure at JOE, we are still awaiting the completion of peer review. Buyer Work Group: Significant work toward the creation of a Northeast region online buyer handbook which lays out the standards for food safety in a clear and easy to access manner for buyers has be made. With an FSOP award received in 2019, the project team has worked toward completion of the project's articulated deliverables. A complete summary of this work is available at the respective award's REEport entry. Preventive Controls Work Group: NECAFS hired a full-time project coordinator to lead and administer the work articulated by this group. The Preventive Controls for Human Food work group developed a website with the goal of providing high-quality accessible food safety resources about the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule to small and very small processors in the Northeast. Along with developing the site and cataloging resources, the group will be launching user testing and a promotion campaign that includes collaborating with key stakeholders. In addition to creating and promoting a PCHF site, the previously administered needs assessment is being expanded to reach more food safety communicators. Objective #4 - Evaluate and Assess Progress and Impact PSA Pre and Post Test Evaluation: NECAFS, along with the other regional centers, is engaged in collecting pre and post test information related to the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training course. NECAFS is gathering this information through our Training Support Stipend Program. The individual is also given the excel sheet with the analysis so they can see what the individual knowledge change was. [5 courses used the Pre and Post Test with a mean pre test score of 16.9 and a mean post test score of 20.6] NECAFS Programming Evaluation: Formal evaluation of NECAFS programming effectiveness began following the 2nd annual meeting and steering team meeting in January of 2018 (Baltimore, MD) and has continued at every Annual Meeting, which allows NECAFS to assess impact and growth overtime. At the 2020 Annual Conference and Meeting, attendees at the NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting overwhelmingly reported that they learned something new (94%), most notably about efforts led by partners in the NECAFS network. Knowing about these efforts led attendees to feel better prepared and informed since having a comprehensive understanding of on-going work improved attendee's awareness of regional needs and varying perspectives that allows them to provide more informed trainings and an ability to develop new projects based on need. This is noteworthy and indicates that the attendees are progressing along the collaboration continuum from information exchange (consulting) to decision-making based on interpersonal trust and shared language (coordinating). Additionally, (93%) of attendees stated that they met someone new at the Annual Conference and Meeting and reported that this new relationship created opportunities for collaboration on education, research and future funding. Additionally, many attendees indicated that collaborative conversation began at the meeting with follow-up planned and that resulting work will be more detailed and accurate with improved partner contributions. In the past, attendees reported that the new relationship(s) would change their approach to FSMA and food safety through enhanced networking and improved communication, while this year, the responses centered on collaborative engagement. Again, this change in responses is of interest and demonstrates an even greater progression along the collaboration continuum from crossing boundaries to share information and establishing new connections (communicating, connection, cooperating) to developing integrated interdependent relationships based on similar needs, interests and goals that have potential to result in collective action (community building and contracting). Overall, when asked if NECAFS has helped improve food safety training, education and outreach, 93% of attendees said yes and explained that this was accomplished through networking and communication with other stakeholders. When asked to describe key challenges in the region, attendees reported a need for communication, research, education, and qualified personnel as their leading concern. When looking at responses of attendees by their role in the food safety community, we found that it had no bearing on the specifics of how NECAFS has helped respondents. However, this review did find that the regulatory role benefited very little from webinars, conference calls, and newsletters while the education role greatly benefited from these forms of communication and information sharing. This suggests that this programming has been tailored to benefit educators and should be reimagined or expanded to include programming that addressed the detailed needs of the regulatory network members. When asked about specific NECAFS activities, (where 5 = excellent), 62% rated regional communication as 4 (41%) or 5 (21%), 73% rated building regional capacity, competence, and collaboration as 4 (51%) or 5 (22%), and 85% rated developing and delivering educational programs as 4 (45%) or 5 (30%). All three areas are down from 2019 ratings. While not a significant decrease, this drop, and associated comments suggests that NECAFS has many new network members and needs to work to integrate and include these new voices into its existing structural framework.

Publications

• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: National Water Lab Map - go.uvm.edu/waterlabmap
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, February, 17, 2021 NASDA National Consortium for Produce Safety Meeting, December 11, 2020 NC Regional Center quarterly listening session, November 19, 2020 Southern Center Annual Meeting, January 20, 2021 Western Center Annual Meeting, March 3, 2021 North Central Center Annual Meeting, February 11, 2021

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience includes owners and operators of small- and mid-sized produce farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers in the Northeast region. Changes/Problems: COVID-19 Stopped all in-person trainings and because of this requests for funds through the training stipent support program slowed down The 2021 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting will be shifted to be held virtually instead of in-person The University of Vermont had hiring freezes in place which delayed our process in recruting and hiring another full-time employee to support and implement preventive controls workgroup activites. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Objective #2 - Build Capacity, Competency and Collaboration The Training Stipend Support Program (TSSP) was launched in 2016 offering $2,000 of reimbursement funding for educators in the region to become trained as a lead instructor for PSA, SPROUT and/or the FSPCA curricula. Again, in 2019, the TSSP was used across the region, although as expected, the demand for becoming a trainer has slowed down in the last year. NECAFS supported 10 trainers through this program [8 PSA TTT, 1 FSPCA QI, 1 FSPCA LI] The TSSP was expanded in 2018 to offer $2,000 of reimbursement funding to support the delivery of educational programming for PSA, SPROUT and/or the FSPCA curricula was accomplished in 2019. Use of the TSSP to support the delivery of educational programming has increased over the last year. [15 educational programs were supported through this program in 2019.] PSA Pre and Post Test Evaluation: NECAFS, along with the other regional centers, is engaged in collecting pre and post test information related to the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training course. NECAFS is gathering this information through our Training Support Stipend Program. When someone requests financial support for educational delivery they are required to use, and report, their pre and post test data. We have developed an excel sheet the TSSP recipient can enter their data, either indexed or not, and send back NECAFS. We will then analyze the responses and return a form with summarized data.It is also aggregated into the national data. The individual is also given the excel sheet with the analysis so they can see what the individual knowledge change was. [6 courses used the Pre and Post Test with a mean pre test score of 14.7 and a mean post test score of 19.2] Objective #3 - Development and Delivery of Educational Programming 2020 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, held in Philadelphia, PA February 2020 provided our network with the opportunity to collaborate and identify areas of action for the next year. This year's meeting again focused on work group meetings as well as, evaluation, federal updates, and highlighting unique projects from across the region. [139 attendees, 2,224 contact hours]. All conference materials from past Annual Meetings are posted on the NECAFS website at https://www.uvm.edu/extension/necafs/annual_meeting Objective #5 - National Engagement and Collaboration National engagement has taken the form of collaboration with the other Regional Centers (RC's), the Tribal Foods Initiative, the Local Foods Initiative, the FSPCA, the PSA, the National Coordination Center (NCC) and our federal sponsor partners (FDA / USDA NIFA) through regular teleconferences that provide an opportunity for brief updates among the coordinating partners. NECAFS also hosted a national Food Safety Outreach Program Round Table Webinar in collaboration with the other RC's (information provided in webinar summary section below). [6 NCC coordinating calls and 4 FSMA Collaborative Forum coordinating calls]. National Water Testing Lab Map: NECAFS has expanded the regional water testing lab map to include water testing labs across the United States. The goal of this map is to help produce growers locate a lab that is geographically close to their location and has the capability to perform at least one of these approved test methods. All the information included in this map has been confirmed by the lab so a grower can be confident that the lab can perform the test needed AND that the lab has received information about the testing methods required under the Produce Safety Rule. The map can be found at go.uvm.edu/waterlabmap This map is under development and is constantly being updated. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Objective #3 - Development and Delivery of Educational Programming We have led NECAFS webinars [6 total regional webinars in this reporting period, 288 total attendees, 288 contact hours]. Updates on FSMA Legal Research Efforts: 65 Introduction to UVM Produce Safety Portal: 31 Acidified Canned Foods Webinar: 34 A Summary of On-Farm Readiness Review Evaluations: 46 Updates on FSMA PSR Legal Research Efforts: 38 National Food Safety Outreach Program Roundtable Webinar: 74 NECAFS YouTube Channel is where we post all the recorded webinar videos and recorded NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting for later viewing. This allows for sustained virtual learning. [964 views with an average view duration of 6 minutes 50 seconds for a total of 110 contact hours] The framework for the NECAFS Clearinghouse, a curated source for resources related to the Produce Safety Rule and the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule (http://go.uvm.edu/clearinghouse) was expanded and was rebranded into the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse in May 2019. In collaboration with the other regional centers, NECAFS has taken on a national communication role which includes restructuring the Clearinghouse to better serve a national audience. The content, users and contributors of the Clearinghouse have always come from across the nation and now the design of the site, which removed regional branding, illustrates that this is a resource for all our national partners. To raise awareness of this rebranding, NECAFS presented at several national meetings this spring (North Central Regional Center's Annual Meeting, Western Regional Center's Annual Meeting, NASDA National Consortium Meeting). We are working with the Western Regional Center to incorporate a peer review process for add-on and supplemental materials. This process is expected to be completed in May, 2020. The intent of this peer review process is to review content to ensure consistency with FSMA rules and guidance documents. [There are 453 resources published in the Clearinghouse (114 tagged as PCHF and 373 tagged as PSR)] [Since August 1, 2020 there have been 27,897 total pageviews and 21,651 unique pageviews with an average session duration of 2 minutes and 31 seconds in a total of 12,232 sessions for a total of 471 contact hours]. The usage of the Clearinghouse, though heaviest in the Northeast, is national. NECAFS Overall Center Evaluation: We conducted a literature review of collaborative framework theory to understand why some factors of NECAFS are working well and learn how to assess the NECAFS network in order to be responsive to its changing needs. The literature review found that NECAFS is successful since, first, it is comprised of autonomous, yet interdependent, individuals that need to work together to tackle a complex and uncertain situations. NECAFS stakeholder group is comprised of all participates in the food safety community where each member of the group has general knowledge or specialized expertise that they bring to the conversation. Second, NECAFS is successful since the establishment of the center focused in its first 18 months on communicating, connecting, community building, and creating trusting relationships among its stakeholders. This developmental progression resulted in a network that is now engaged in longer-terms sharing and co-development of programming to address our region's needs. These two main points have resulted in an effective collaboration between NECAFS network. It is important for collaborations to be flexible and responsive, so to guide our work with the intent of leading to a more effective collaboration overtime, we conducted two group evaluation exercises (Collaborative Community Card Sort and Sustainability Spider Web) at the 2020 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting in Philadelphia. Results will be submitted for publication in 2020. Objective #5 - Sustain Good Work Funded Proposals: NECAFS successfully received 2 grants this year one for $50,000 and the other for $150,000 for continued NECAFS programming. The first extends the legal extension work to include more comprehensive communication of developed factsheets. The second takes two years of discussion and buyer workgroup planning and puts it into action with funding to address the group's identified need. Results will be disseminated to the target audiance. Proposed Grant Applications: Based on the needs identified during the produce safety work group meeting at the 2020 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, we submitted an application to the USDA Food Safety Outreach Program open RFA to review and extend existing produce safety research in approachable FAQ factsheets. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continued promotion of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse Complete development of add-on/supplemental review process, in partnership with the Western Regional Center, to be established as part of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse interface Translate Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse to Spanish to provide access to Spanish speaking users Evaluation of NECAFS supported training and educational programs, including development of long-term lookback survey Support cohort of trainers through PSA, FSPCA and SPROUT training via the Training Support Stipend Program (TSSP) including evaluation of the program Support delivery of PSA, FSPCA and SROUT educational programming via the TSSP including evaluation of the programming Continue to expand regional outreach and network development Continue to explore opportunities to sustain funding for NECAFS Plan and host NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting virtually, February 17-18, 2021 Continue to support Workgroup activities as needed with staff and additional resources Submit collaboration framework literature review for publication in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective #1 - Sustain and Nurture Network Foundation A basic communications infrastructure developed in year one has been further developed throughout this grant. A dedicated NECAFS email LISTSERV was established for "pull" communication by stakeholders [112 total subscribers, 10,400 emails exchanged from project start]. We have strengthened or Email eNewsletter distribution list for "push" communication. Subscription continues to grow on a regular basis with 63 new contacts in 2019. Circulation has grown to 514 total subscribers with an average open rate of 36% and click through rate of 21%. Importantly, this network is highly engaged as demonstrated through top-tier industry open and click rates (above 30% open rate is considered "top-tier" across all industries. [10,161 cumulative contacts via eNewsletter with 3,112 unique opens and 676 click-throughs in the reporting period.] We have further developed the NECAFS website which serves as a location for permanent posting of project related information including recordings of past webinars and other documents. [For 2019, there were 2,832 pageviews in 2,037 session with 2:37 minute average session duration, 80 contact hours by 1,189 users.] The project execution has been managed with Project Team Meetings that are held regularly monthly via teleconference with a standing agenda for project review and specific discussion about near term activities and action items. [12 coordinating calls with 60 cumulative project management hours]. Work groups are becoming more formalized with articulated goals and objectives and designated leadership. Below is an update on each workgroup: Need Assessment Work Group: One part-time employee was hired in November, 2018 to complete a systematic review of all published produce safety needs assessments as directed by the Regional Needs Assessment work group. This review was completed in 2019 with the results presented at the NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting, February, 2020 during the Needs Assessment work group meeting. The work was discussed and the group voted on which identified need is "most crucial" and "most actionable." The results are included here. The publication of this completed systematic review was submitted to the Journal of Extension in April, 2020. Preventive Controls Work Group: The Preventive Controls for Human Food working group administered a needs assessment of small and very small processors across the Northeast. The intent of the survey was to assess barriers that prevent small and very small food processors from implementing hazard analysis risk-based preventive controls food safety plans in accordance with the Preventive Controls for Human Foods regulation under the Food Safety Modernization Act. The summary of this needs assessment was presented to the preventive controls work group at the NECAFS Annual Conference. The publication of the data is expected in late 2020. Buyer Work Group: The 2019 Annual Conference and Meeting hosted a half-day meeting with the intent of developing action items in order to address some of the challenges articulated around coordination between buyers and produce growers. To address the priority action items identified, the NECAFS buyer workgroup determined a need to create a Northeast region online buyer handbook which lays out the standards for food safety in a clear and easy to access manner for buyers. An FSOP proposal was funded to develop this resource. This project was funded with a start date of 9/1/19. Objective #4 - Evaluate and Assess Progress and Impact Formal Evaluation was conducted at the NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting in Feb. 2020. Attendees at the NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting overwhelmingly reported that they learned something new (94%), most notably about efforts led by partners in the NECAFS network. Knowing about these efforts led attendees to feel better prepared and informed since having a comprehensive understanding of on-going work improved attendee's awareness of regional needs and varying perspectives that allows them to provide more informed trainings and an ability to develop new projects based on need. When comparing with past NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting evaluations, the leading theme of what attendees learned has not deviated, however, how that knowledge will change their approach to FSMA and food safety is different this year. In the past, this new knowledge allowed attendees to answer questions and pass along knowledge, responses that are more aligned with information sharing, while this year, the responses centered on improved decision making and taking a new approach to training and future projects based on knowledge gained from partner attendees. This is noteworthy and indicates that the attendees are progressing along the collaboration continuum from information exchange (consulting) to decision-making based on interpersonal trust and shared language (coordinating). Additionally, (93%) of attendees stated that they met someone new at the Annual Conference and Meeting and reported that this new relationship created opportunities for collaboration on education, research and future funding. Additionally, many attendees indicated that collaborative conversation began at the meeting with follow-up planned and that resulting work will be more detailed and accurate with improved partner contributions. In the past, attendees reported that the new relationship(s) would change their approach to FSMA and food safety through enhanced networking and improved communication, while this year, the responses centered on collaborative engagement. Again, this change in responses is of interest and demonstrates an even greater progression along the collaboration continuum from crossing boundaries to share information and establishing new connections (communicating, connection, cooperating) to developing integrated interdependent relationships based on similar needs, interests and goals that have potential to result in collective action (community building and contracting). When asked if NECAFS has helped improve food safety training, education and outreach, 93% of attendees said yes and explained that this was accomplished through networking and communication with other stakeholders. When asked to describe key challenges in the region, attendees reported a need for communication, research, education, and qualified personnel as their leading concern. The challenge arises because there is, generally, a need to provide more technical assistance and help answer the commonly heard "What do I need to do?" question. When looking responses of attendees by their role in the food safety community, we found that it had no bearing on the specifics of how NECAFS has helped respondents. However, this review did find that the regulatory role benefited very little from webinars, conference calls, and newsletters while the education role greatly benefited from these forms of communication and information sharing. This suggests that this programming has been tailored to benefit educators and should be reimagined or expanded to include programming that addressed the detailed needs of the regulatory network members. When asked about specific NECAFS activities, (where 5 = excellent), 62% rated regional communication as 4 (41%) or 5 (21%), 73% rated building regional capacity, competence, and collaboration as 4 (51%) or 5 (22%), and 85% rated developing and delivering educational programs as 4 (45%) or 5 (30%). All three areas are down from 2019 ratings. While not a significant decrease, this drop, and associated comments suggests that NECAFS has many new network members and needs to work to integrate and include these new voices into its existing structural framework.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: On-Farm Produce Safety: A Review of Needs Assessments in the Northeast U.S. - Submitted to the Journal of Extension on April 30, 2020.

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience includes owners and operators of small- and mid-sized produce farms, beginning farmers, socially-disadvantaged farmers, small processors, or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers in the Northeast region. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training Stipend Support Program (TSSP) supported 11 trainers totaling $7,800 in funding in the past 6 months [8 PSA Trainers, 1 PSA Lead Trainer, 1 FSPCA Qualified Individual, 1 FSPCA Lead Instructor]. Educational Webinars were delivered and facilitated on topics with relevance to food safety training and education. Topics include: Updates on FSMA Legal Research Efforts and Introduction to UVM Produce Safety Portal [2 webinars, 102 attendees, 306 contact hours]. Training Support Stipend Program to reimbursement funding to support the delivery of educational programming for PSA, SPROUT and/or the FSPCA curricula has been active. [Delivery of 8 educational programs totaling $4,900 in funding (7 PSA grower trainings and 1 FSPCA training)]. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse (formerly the NECAFS Clearinghouse) was rebranded in May 2019. In collaboration with the other regional centers, NECAFS has taken on a national communication role which includes restructuring the Clearinghouse to better serve a national audience. The content, users and contributors of the Clearinghouse have always come from across the nation and now the design of the site, which removed regional branding, illustrates that this is a resource for all our national partners. To raise awareness of this rebranding, NECAFS presented at several national meetings this spring (North Central Regional Center's Annual Meeting, Western Regional Center's Annual Meeting, NASDA National Consortium Meeting). Contributors & Resources (The number of people who have an account and contribute resources to the Clearinghouse) 79 Contributors 369 Resources 291 Produce Safety 89 Preventive Controls for Human Food Top Three Most Viewed Resources Resource Title Page Views FSPCA Food Safety Plan Template 677 FSMA Human Food Audit Checklist 521 Ag Water Tools and Calculators 386 Sessions (A period of time a user is actively engaged with the Clearinghouse) 7,498 sessions with a 3.1 min avg. session duration. Returning visitors have an average 4.3 sessions on the Clearinghouse Returning visitors viewed 4 pages per session Users & Page Views (A person who has initiated at least one session on the Clearinghouse) 3,651 users with 21,226 page views and 15,471 unique page views 85% users from United States 15% international users Source (How a person got to the Clearinghouse) 54% of users conduct an organic search in a search engine (ex. Google) 38% of users go directly to the Clearinghouse 7% of users are referred from another place (ex. Newsletter or link on another website) 1% of user follow a link from a social media post Usage Overtime (Usage of the Clearinghouse, year over year comparison) Pageviews up 76% Unique Pageviews up 104% Users up 238% New Users up 231% Sessions up 179% What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Prior to the next reporting deadline on September 1, 2020 the Project Team anticipates the work above to be sustained and the following specific activities to be completed: Continued promotion of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse Development of add-on/supplemental review process, in partnership with the Western Regional Center, to be established as part of the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse interface Evaluation of NECAFS supported training and educational programs, including development of long-term lookback survey Support cohort of trainers through PSA, FSPCA and SPROUT training via the Training Support Stipend Program (TSSP) including evaluation of the program Support delivery of PSA, FSPCA and SROUT educational programming via the TSSP including evaluation of the programming Continue to expand regional outreach and network development Continue to explore opportunities to sustain funding for NECAFS Plan and host NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting in Philadelphia, PA February 10-12, 2020 Continue to support Workgroup activities as needed with staff and additional resources

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective #1 - Sustain and Nurture Network Foundation Accomplishments, Milestones and Outputs The NECAFS eNewsletter continues to be the main form of communication within our network. These communications are sent approximately every 5 weeks to a contact list of 426 network participants. Importantly, this network is highly engaged as demonstrated through top-tier industry open and click rates (above 30% open rate is considered "top-tier" across all industries.) [NECAFS average open rate is 39%, average click rate is 23%] Workgroups are becoming more formalized with articulated goals and objectives and designated leadership. Below is an update on each workgroup: Need Assessment Workgroup: This workgroup articulated a need to conduct a systematic review of all needs assessment of regional cohorts related to food safety. One part-time (2-4 hours per week) employee was hired to execute this work. The in-depth literature review of peer-reviewed publications began in November 2018. Since that time, several drafts of this systematic review have been reviewed by the Needs Assessment workgroup and NECAFS project team. Next steps include review and incorporation of unpublished needs assessment data into final paper. It is anticipated that this project will be completed in the fall with submission for publication. Preventive Controls Workgroup: The 2018 Annual Conference and Meeting hosted a full-day meeting for the Preventive Controls for Human Food workgroup where challenges, key opportunities and next steps were identified. Three sub-groups were formed based on these challenges, including: resources, awareness and evaluation. Two part-time (2-4 hours per week) employees were hired to execute this work. Ahead of the 2019 Annual Conference and Meeting, each sub-group developed a detailed proposal outlining objectives and activities to address their respective challenges. A half-day meeting was held at the 2019 Annual Conference and Meeting where each proposal was presented, discussed and finalized. The two employees are coordinating the efforts of these subgroup and delivering the work described in their proposals. Current status of this includes: Awareness & Evaluation: Coordination of these workgroups include the design of a survey to determine baseline needs related to the lack of awareness of PCHF and current evaluation techniques of the PQCI Lead Instructors. The survey is being sent to the Food Safety Communicators (FSC) to answer questions about small/medium processors as a means to increase responses. Resources: Developed a matrix to organize list of resources developed by current workgroups and those identified through above described survey. Next steps will include updates to the Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse with a focus on the resources and outreach materials for educators of small producers. Buyer Workgroup: The 2019 Annual Conference and Meeting hosted a half-day meeting with the intent of developing action items in order to address some of the challenges articulated around coordination between buyers and produce growers. To address the priority action items identified, the NECAFS buyer workgroup determined a need to create a Northeast region online buyer handbook which lays out the standards for food safety in a clear and easy to access manner for buyers. In August, NECAFS submitted a proposal to the USDA Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP) to develop this resource. This project was funded with an anticipated start date of 9/1/19. Objective #2 - Build Capacity, Competency, Confidence and Collaboration Accomplishments, Milestones and Outputs See "opportunitites for training and professional development" section below. Objective #3 - Develop and Deliver Educational Programs Accomplishments, Milestones and Outputs See "opportunitites for training and professional development" section below. Objective #4 - Evaluate and Assess Progress and Impact Accomplishments, Milestones and Outputs Formal Evaluation was conducted at the NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting in Feb. 2019. This evaluation was two-fold, focused on (1) effectiveness of the Annual Conference and Meeting and (2) impact of NECAFS overall. Annual Conference and Meeting - Attendees at the NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting overwhelmingly reported that they learned something new (97%), most notably about existing educational efforts. This new knowledge led attendees to feel more prepared and informed as trainers and/or researchers and because of this comfort in answering questions and passing along knowledge they will be more effective educators. In a post-event survey, conference attendees--regardless of their role in the produce safety community--ranked their most notable topic of new knowledge as "learning about existing educational efforts." However, second- and third-most notable topics of new knowledge varied depending on the individual attendee's role (educator or regulator). These two roles are the largest of those in attendance and those that can be compared across registration. This alignment of learning by role matches the structure of the 2019 NECAFS Annual Conference and Meeting and the sessions attended by individual registrant. Additionally, all attendees stated that they met someone new at the Annual Conference and Meeting and reported that this new relationship will allow for enhanced networking and improved communication. The opportunity to network with partners across the region was often cited as one of greatest benefits of attending the Annual Conference and Meeting. Attendees reported that there are food safety challenges in our region with the leading concern being a need for communication, research, education, and qualified personnel. The challenge arises because there is, generally, a need to get the audiences engaged in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) ready to be in compliance when inspections begin. NECAFS Overall - Respondents reported that NECAFS has helped them improve their food safety training, education and/or outreach (95%) through facilitation of regional networking and communication and the sharing of resources. When asked about specific NECAFS activities, (where 5 = excellent), 83% rated regional communication as 4 (37%) or 5 (46%), 97% rated building regional capacity, competence, and collaboration as 4 (43%) or 5 (54%), and 91% rated developing and delivering educational programs as 4 (36%) or 5 (55%). Respondents articulated a need for enhanced communication to those outside the NECAFS network to raise awareness of NECAFS and its programming. Responses to the question of how NECAFS has helped them varied depending on the respondent's role (educator or regulator) with educators citing networking leading to collaborative work as first and regulators citing general networking and communication that informs decision making as their first answer. Objective #4 - National Engagement and Collaboration Accomplishments, Milestones and Outputs The NECAFS National Engagement - Regular engagement with the other Regional Centers and the Lead Regional Coordination Center is ongoing. We join monthly calls and attend other Regional Center's Annual Meetings. The Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse was rebranded with a national face and we have increased communication about its resources with weekly social media posts. NECAFS is also actively seeking ways, along with the other Regional Centers to promote the Clearinghouse and attract more account users, as well as, addition content. Objective #6 - Sustain Good Work Accomplishments, Milestones and Outputs NECAFS has actively pursued several additional funding opportunities including the recent USDA NIFA Food Safety Outreach Program to develop and On-line Buyer Handbook (as outline above in the Buyer Workgroup activity section).

Publications

• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Food Safety Resource Clearinghouse national rebranding: go.uvm.edu/clearinghouse