Recipient Organization
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
240 FRENCH ADMINISTRATION BLDG
PULLMAN,WA 99164-0001
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
There are over 400 cottage food processors in Washington, and the cottage food processing industry continues to grow, both in Washington and nationally. Foods produced under cottage food laws have generally been deemed as low risk, but as this industry grows, states are allowing processing of a wider variety of foods and allowing for significantly higher food sales. Additionally, food safety training requirements in this industry range from none to a couple of hours, and this industry has remained overlooked for food safety training. This proposal's overarching goal is to develop food safety training for this industry, which can be adopted by educators in other states, to improve food safety education and implementation in this sector. We will conduct a thorough assessment of the gaps that exist in the cottage food systems and use this assessment to identify core needs for enhancing food safety in this industry. We will design specific GMPs, simplified cleaning and sanitation practices, simplified hygienic zoning, allergen ingredients and best practices for allergen management, prevention of allergen cross-contact, and food safety training for controlling unique and potential hazards for foods processed within the cottage foods sectors. We will deliver in-person and online training for cottage food processors and those wishing to enter the cottage food processing sector. By providing food safety training to the cottage food processing business, we can improve the safety of foods produced, protect public health, and protect cottage food operators from the financial burden of a food recall.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
This proposal's overarching goal is to develop food safety training for this industry, which can be adopted by educators in other states, to improve food safety education and implementation in this sector. We will conduct a thorough assessment of the gaps that exist in the cottage food systems and use this assessment to identify core needs for enhancing food safety in this industry. We will design specific GMPs, simplified cleaning and sanitation practices, simplified hygienic zoning, allergen ingredients and best practices for allergen management, prevention of allergen cross-contact, and food safety training for controlling unique and potential hazards for foods processed within the cottage foods sectors. We will deliver in-person and online training for cottage food processors and those wishing to enter the cottage food processing sector. By providing food safety training to the cottage food processing business, we can improve the safety of foods produced, protect public health, and protect cottage food operators from the financial burden of a food recall.
Project Methods
Objective 1. Conduct a thorough assessment of the gaps that exist in the cottage food systems by working with the WSDA and WSU's Food Systems team. Through this assessment, we will identify core needs for enhancing food safety in the cottage food industry.Goal - Identify core food safety needs to drive the development of food safety programming in this overlooked industry.Background- The cottage foods processing industry has been overlooked for food safety training. Cottage food processing, which occurs in a home or commercial kitchen, can present a wide variety of scenarios that can affect the safety of food and are unique to this specific sector. By surveying a select variety of cottage food processing scenarios, we can better identify the core needs under each scenario and develop food safety training that will be informative to this sector.Approach- We will work with WSU's Food Systems Team, WSDA, and regional commercial kitchens to identify cottage food processors who are operating in a wide variety of facilities. During the first year we will perform a needs assessment in this industry as well as identify core needs for enhancing food safety. These visits will consist of evaluations of different kitchen spaces used in the cottage food industry. We will also meet with stakeholders who operate in the cottage food industry to discuss their needs for training, identify areas where there is a lack of knowledge via completion of questionnaires, and hold 4-6 round table discussions either online or in-person. From this assessment, we will develop food safety training specific to the cottage food industry.Objective 2. Design specific GMPs, simplified cleaning and sanitation practices, simplified hygienic zoning, allergen ingredients and best practices for allergen management and prevention of allergen cross-contact and food safety training for controlling unique and potential hazards for foods processed within the cottage foods sectors.Goal - We will develop food safety training that meets the unique needs of the cottage food processing industry.Background- The cottage food processing industry faces unique food safety needs since the food is processed in the home or in widely used commercial kitchens. The unique situations may include the presence of children or pets, uncommon food contact surfaces not used in traditional food processing, processing of different types of foods by different cottage food processors in commercial kitchens, floor plans which makes it difficult to control contamination or allergen cross-contact, and a lack of resources to buy separate utensils or equipment to reduce hazards. We will use the needs assessment as outlined in objective 1 to drive the development of content specific to this industry. In many areas, we will be able to leverage content previously developed for small food processors and modify this content and core principles to meet the food safety needs of cottage food processors.Approach- Based on the needs assessments under objective 1, we will develop food safety training to meet the core needs of the cottage food processing sector. We will develop training modules on 1.) GMPs for controlling unique hazards for both home kitchens and common-use commercial kitchens; 2.)Develop tailored training for the development of food safety plans; 3.)Modify current training developed for small food processors on cleaning and sanitation to fit cottage food operators' home or commercial kitchens using items commonly available in the retail sector; 4.) Preventing cross-contact, proper labeling, and identification of allergens; and 5.) additional food safety training as identified during the assessment.The training will be developed using a series of modules that can be delivered during a full-day workshop or broken into webinars focused on a specific topic. We will develop and incorporate the use of videos to provide real examples to further enhance the training. We will also develop a voice-over PowerPoint training that will be available through WSU's Extension training platform and accessible to cottage food processors who may not be able to attend in-person trainings or webinars. In addition to the training content, we will develop booklets to accompany the training and include additional resources on food safety and support for cottage food processors.Objective 3. Deliver in-person and online training for cottage food processors and those wishing to enter the cottage food processing sector.Goal - The goal of objective 3 is to deliver both online and in-person food safety training programs, developed from objective 2, across the state of Washington to improve food safety and economic viability of the cottage food sector.Approach- In year 2, upon completion of objective 2, we will deliver three in-person full-day trainings at three different strategic locations across the state. The locations of the in-person trainings, as shown in Figure 1 and Table 1, were strategic to allow access for rural and underserved community members to attend. By conducting training at these locations, we aim to not only educate those already in the cottage food industry but also help underserved populations gain the knowledge base to become entrepreneurs in this industry. We will also conduct individual webinars on each of the modules developed in objective 2 and will develop online training covering each of the modules to support individuals who can not attend the in-person training or webinars.We will develop a pre and post-test to gauge effectiveness of the training materials and develop a post-training evaluation to provide feedback as to the effectiveness of the content. The training content will then be revised as needed to ensure that it is effective in improving food safety in cottage food operations. The information collected during the first half of year two will be used to adjusted the online training modules before they are posted to WSU's Extension training site. The online content will be continually revised and updated with other resources (videos, information, and updates) beyond the 2-year funding period of this project based on participation feedback, changes to regulations or identification of additional needs through continuous improvement processes. The online course and updates will be sustained by charging a minimal participant fee for the on-line course after the end of this grant period with an anticipated cost of $25. We will leverage our statewide Extension faculty and staff to advertise the in-person training sessions, webinars, and online training content to maximize our reach to all individuals that are interested in becoming cottage food entrepreneurs or are already operating as cottage foods processors. After the creation and delivery of the content, we will share the training modules, booklets, PowerPoints, and videos with stakeholder groups that provide food safety education and training to cottage food processors in other states. The content will be modifiable to meet each state's needs and will be provided to stakeholders at cost so that this training will have reach beyond Washington state.