Progress 09/01/17 to 12/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The Local Produce Safety Initiative's target audiences were small-scale, limited resource, and new and beginning farmers seeking access to high-value markets for local foods in the Carolinas. This audience continues to face emerging issues of undergoing third-party audit certification or implementing a robust food safety program. The target audience farm size ranged from 1-100 acres and growers who focus on diversified crop production, many of whom have up to 40 different varieties of crops. Of the participants in this program, 62% were beginning farmers, 22% were limited resource farmers, 7% were socially disadvantaged farmers, and 1% were veteran farmers. The median farm size was 5 acres. Many of these farmers are currently selling direct to the consumer; however, many have the available land to scale up production and are seeking out wholesale buyers to purchase their products. However, many farmers currently do not have a food safety program developed and implemented within their operation. Changes/Problems:Issue/Problem and Solutions for Target Audience The original project proposal for FSOP included nine 1-day workshops covering Principles of Fresh Produce Safety, Navigating the GAP Audit and nine 1-day workshops covering Food Safety Program and Plan Development (Table 2). Two-day workshops were proposed because we found that program participants who attended workshops still struggled with writing a food safety plan, hence a second-day workshop was provided for hands-on assistance developing a food safety plan. However, after experimenting with the format, we found that farmers preferred working on food safety plans one-on-one rather than in a group setting at a workshop. Additionally, North Carolina State University Extension has recently hired two (eastern and western) Food Safety Specialists that are focused on the education and implementation of FSMA's Produce Safety Rule. This team held over 40 Produce Safety Alliance trainings in 2017 alone and anticipates holding 20 PSA workshops during October 2018 thru April 2019 and October 2019 thru April 2020. Due to the delivery of these workshops, we saw a significant decrease in GAP workshop participation in year one. During 2018, the team spent exponentially more time than anticipated to train the FoodlogiQ staff on the application of the software to our audience by participating in weekly meetings, determining software modifications for small farm user-friendliness, traceability components, recruiting growers and creating User Guides for growers. It was also determined that growers needed additional hands-on training to get the most benefit from the software. As a result, we submitted a modification to our deliverables reducing the number of workshops in order to free up staff time to focus on FoodLogiQ to better accommodate the software training and set-up needs for growers. Halfway through the proiect period, we began to realize that the partnership with FoodLogiQ was not going to result in success. When FoodLogiQ was identified as the partner on the project, the company agreed that there was a need to develop and make accessible user-friendly software for our target audience and were enthusiastic to work with us to modify their software in order to do so. Unfortunately, FoodLogiQ experienced significant staff turnover, made changes to their software making it more challenging for small farmers to use, and signed an agreement with the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) that prohibited the use of any unique identifiers within the Track + Trace platform other than PTI assigned GS1/GTIN identifiers purchased from PTI directly. We realized that these changes would ultimately prevent us from meeting our goal, which was to minimize the cost of meeting industry standard traceability requirements by allowing farmers to utilize an existing traceability system that met the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Standard requirements. We shared our concerns with FoodLogiQ and tried to determine a path forward, however, in March 2019 they confirmed that CFSA members would not be allowed to utilize their internal traceability system within the software. The only solution at that point would have been for CFSA to purchase PTI's G1's and GTIN's, and invest a great deal of staff time to translate each farmers' internal traceability lot numbers to PTI-compliant numbers on a daily basis. We had two concerns with this solution. This resulted in two issues: 1) the farmers we were working with did not have the capacity to transfer data to CFSA on a daily basis; and 2) we did not have the capacity nor did we find value in redirecting our time away from providing farmers with valuable food safety education and technical assistance. Therefore, in March, 2019 we requested that FoodLogiQ terminate our contract and we submitted a second grant modification to discontinue providing farmer access to FoodLogiQ. We revised the deliverables and budget in order to reallocate money from the contractor line item to payroll and travel in order to provide direct Food Safety Program and Plan Development to an additional six farmers and conduct an additional eight one-day workshops. Table 2. Project objectives and modifications. Obj. Original Modification I Modification II 1. Conduct nine 1-day workshops covering Principles of Fresh Produce Safety and Navigating the GAP Audit to 135 workshop participants. Conduct two 1-day workshops and two webinars covering Principles of Fresh Produce Safety and Navigating the GAP Audit to 97 participants. Conduct six 1-day workshops and two webinars covering Principles of Fresh Produce Safety and Navigating the GAP Audit to 120 participants. 2. Conduct nine 1-day workshops covering Food Safety Program and Plan Development to 135 workshop participants. Conduct two webinars covering Food Safety Program and Plan Development to 80 participants. Conduct six 1-day workshops and two webinars covering Food Safety Program and Plan Development to 120 workshop participants. 3. Provide direct Food Safety Program and Plan Development assistance to 60 small-scale farms seeing GAP certification, including access to FoodLogicQ, a cloud-based IT food safety platform. Provide direct Food Safety Program and Plan Development assistance for up to 60 small-scale farms seeking GAP certification, including access to FoodLogicQ, a cloud-based IT food safety platform. Provide direct Food Safety Program and Plan Development assistance for up to 64 small-scale farms seeking GAP certification. No longer providing access to FoodLogicQ, a cloud-based IT food safety platform. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Halfway through the project CFSA hired two new Local Produce Safety Coordinators. While both had food safety experience, they participated in the following training events/activities: Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Course, Pittsboro, NC January 31, 2019 Measuring Racial Equity in the Food System: Established and Suggested Metrics by Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems, July 16, 2019 2019 Center for Produce Safety Research Symposium Key Learnings Webinar, July 17, 2019 Fall Crop Planning at Central Carolina Community College Pittsboro, NC August-December, 2019 United Fresh Harmonized GAP Auditor Training, May 2019 NASDA OFRR Training, June 2019 Cornell CALS Train the Trainer, September 2019 Webinar - Measuring Racial Equity in the Food System: Established and Suggested Metrics, July 2019 Webinar - CPS Webinar: Why Guess? Fill Knowledge Gaps With New Insight from Field Based Research, August 2019 Webinar - Produce Safety Alliance Annual Trainer Update, October 2019 Webinar - GAPs Harmonized Standard: Where are we now? November 2019 Webinar - National FSOP Round Table, December 2019 Two CFSA staff members spent over 140 cumulative hours training one-on-one with the FoodLogiQ staff in order to learn how to effectively use the FoodLogiQ online platform. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Workshops and direct technical assistance was promoted on CFSA's Good Agricultural Practices landing page (1,242 unique views during the project period), monthly electronic newsletters, the Growers Toolbox (3,077 readers) and the Training Ground (578 readers), and on our events page. CFSA attended the NIFA Director's Meeting in Blacksburg, VA on August 20, 2018 and shared the results through a poster presentation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The long-term goal of this project was to level the playing field for small-scale, limited-resource, and new and beginning farmers seeking access to the high-value market for local foods in Carolina communities. As the local food market shifts increasingly to wholesale distribution channels, these types of producers will have to demonstrate effective farm food safety programs. Through this project we provided scale-appropriate produce safety training and support to small-scale, limited-resource, and new and beginning farmers through workshops covering Principles of Fresh Produce Safety (Objective 1) and Food Safety Program and Plan Development (Objective 2), and direct assistance on Food Safety Program and Plan Development (Objective 3). Objective 1: Conducted 11 1-day workshops covering Principles of Fresh Produce Safety and Navigating the GAP Audit to 171 workshop participants. Workshop topics included an introduction to food safety, land, worker health and hygiene, restroom and sewage, water, animals, manure, harvesting and packing equipment and containers, traceability, and what to expect during a USDA or Harmonized GAP Audit inspection. Training material included detailed information on the risk factors associated with the use of agricultural water pre- and post-harvest to minimize potential microbial contamination and soil amendments and food safety concerns associated with biological contamination by pathogens, with a special emphasis on manure-based soil amendments and inadequate water quality. Workshops were conducted in: Florence, SC, February 20, 2018 (24 Participants) Roebuck, SC, July 23, 2018 (13 Participants) Goldsboro, NC, June 25, 2019 (16 Participants) Conetoe, NC, August 12, 2019 (15 Participants) Pickens, SC, August 20, 2019 (6 Participants) West Columbia, SC, October 15, 2019 (17 Participants) Mount Pleasant, SC, November 13, 2019 (10 Participants) High Point, NC, December 10, 2019 (10 Participants) Durham, NC, November 2, 2019 (17 Participants) Durham, NC, November 2, 2019 (15 Participants) Webinar, August 9, 2019 (28 Participants) Objective 2: Conducted 5 1-day workshops covering Food Safety Program Development to 56 workshop participants. Workshops provided guidance on writing a food safety plan. Charleston, SC, August 25, 2019 (6 Participants) Pembroke, NC, October 1, 2019 (19 Participants) Warrenton, NC, October 15, 2019 (7 Participants) Kenansville, NC, December 3, 2019 (17 Participants) Washington, NC, December 13, 2019 (7 Participants) Objective 3: Provided direct Food Safety Program and Plan Development assistance to 66 small-scale farms seeking GAP certification (Table 1). Assistance included a site visit in order to identify and address potential food safety risks, a review of program participant's food safety plans providing direct feedback, assistance implementing standard operating procedures and instructions for tasks necessary to mitigate food safety concerns, and assistance preparing for a GAP audit, and provided technical assistance to growers during the GAP audit, where applicable. Table 1. Program participants who received direct technical on developing food safety plans and obtaining GAP certification. OPERATION NAME STATE GAP CERTIFIED OPERATION NAME STATE GAP CERTIFIED A Thrasher's Farm SC N Hinnant Family Vineyards NC Y ASW Organics NC N Home Sweet Farm SC N Balsam Gardens NC Y Honey Bee Hills NC N Barnett Farms NC Y IFFS Farm NC Y Bayberry Farms NC N J&B Herbs NC N Blackwater Farm SC N Jason Roland SC N Blue Thumb Farms NC Y L&M Agriculture SC N Bluefield Blueberry Farm SC Y Locklear Farms NC N Bob Gessner NC N Lorrie Dial NC N Bob's Pick and Pay NC Y M&M Berry Farm NC Y Bodenhamer Farms NC N Miss Addies Family Farm NC N Cashwell Blueberry Farm NC Y Murdaugh Farms SC N Chandler Worley Family Farms NC N New Dawn Organics NC N Charlie T Locklear Vineyard NC N New Ground Farm NC Y Conetoe Family Life Ctr NC N O'Brien Family Farms NC Y Cullen Farms NC Y Paul Skinner Farms NC Y Dennis Bullard Farms NC N RE James Farm SC N Dorsch Farms NC N Red Hawk Farm NC Y Double J Farms SC Y REW Farms SC N Dozier Grain and Produce NC N Sandhills Ag Innovation NC Y E.R. Hester Farms NC Y Silo Farms SC N Earth's Turn NC N Southern Sower SC N Edwards Farm & Ranch SC Y Spring Lake Family Farms NC N Farm 2 Fork SC N Steven's Produce and Grain NC Y Fruit of the Spirit NC Y Stevens Farm SC Y Gallops Sweet Potato Farm SC N Sugar Hill Acres SC Y Garden of Bladen NC Y Tega Hills Farm, LLC SC N Golden Organic Farm NC N Tommy Bullard Farms NC Y Grafted Growers, LLC NC N Tuten Farms SC N GreenTown Farms, Inc. NC Y Vertical Roots SC Y Growing Green Family Farms SC N Waterwheel Farms NC N Hedge Farm NC Y Willard Farm SC Y Heritage Harvest Farms NC Y Winburn Farms SC Y Data Collected Workshop attendees were assessed using a pre-test and post-test of food safety information. These pre- and post-tests were used both to assess knowledge transfer and to improve subsequent workshops on an iterative basis. Workshop attendees also were assessed with an end-of-workshop anonymous written survey to collect their demographic data, evaluate their satisfaction with the workshop, and measure demand for future workshops on food safety topics. Recipients of one-on-one direct technical assistance were surveyed via an anonymous web survey in November of 2018 and 2019. Website use and e-newsletter participation were measured using Google Analytics and Mailchimp Analytics respectively. Outcomes/Accomplishments Out of sixty farmers that CFSA provided direct technical assistance to, 29 successfully passed a GAP audit. Due to the timing on assistance we anticipate many will schedule an audit during the 2020 growing season. Those who did not obtain GAP certification did implement a food safety program with policies and procedures to mitigate the risks identified. At follow up, 80% of direct technical assistance recipients had done an on-farm risk assessment and taken some food safety steps. Of the farmers surveyed, more than half anticipated needing to hire additional field help in the coming year in response to increased sales. One larger farmer reported: "'We signed a contract with a buyer to purchase our entire blackberry crop from our 6 acres of blackberries. A requirement of the contract is to become GAP certified before they would accept any blackberry deliveries." After the need for two different grant modifications, CFSA was able to recover from previous challenges identified throughout the project, resulting in a 50% GAP certification rate during the project period with future certifications and ongoing support planned.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The Local Produce Safety Initiatives target audience are small-scale, limited resource, and new and beginning farmers seeking access to high-value markets for local foods in the Carolinas. This audience continues to face emerging issues of undergoing third-party audit certification or implementing a robust food safety program. Traceability is a component of the food safety program where a user-friendly platform allowing buyer access to food safety documents will help growers overcome these challenges in lieu of third-party certification making it more feasible for small-scale, limited-resource and new and beginning farmers to maintain documentation and implement traceability programs. Where buyers are not requiring proof of third-party food safety certification, they are increasingly requiring that supplying farms have a food safety program in place and the ability to provide documentation of the effectiveness of the program upon request. In short, farmers are facing some sort of food safety requirement from virtually all fresh produce marketing channels. Additionally, buyers and certification bodies are increasingly requesting ease of access to program documentation through cloud-based software to house food safety documents, including audit results where applicable. Where buyers are only requiring a food safety plan, the cloud-based platform will provide access to not only the food safety plan, but to accompanying documents and verification that new commodity specific processes are implemented where needed as crops change based on the consumer demand. The target audience farm size ranges from 1-200 acres growing who focus on diversified crop production many of which have up to 40 different varieties of crops. The farms currently are selling direct to the consumer, however have the available land to scale up production and are seeking out wholesale buyers to purchase their products, who currently do not have a food safety program developed and implemented within their operation. Leafy green production is prominent in the Carolina's and is increasingly at the top of the list for requiring stringent food safety practices, where if the target audience does not comply, their market access will be limited. The Project includes seven stages of activities in order to access and evaluate the effectiveness of the program with the target audience: 1) communication with program partners, cooperative extension agents, food hub managers, the Southern Center for FSMA Training, Extension and Outreach to Enhance Produce Safety at the University of Florida and other agricultural professionals to identify strategic locations to hold workshops; 2) modification our existing training material to ensure they are consistent with FSMA guidelines; 3) promotion of the program on CFSA's website, electronic newsletter, listservs and at workshops and tabling events; 4) providing direct Food Safety Program and Plan Development assistance; 5) planning and conducting workshops, including day of logistics, promotion, registration, and development of pre- and post-workshop questionnaires and surveys; 6) drafting and conducting annual program participant surveys and evaluating program impact based on those surveys; and 7) communicating results to stakeholders. The project will provide the target audience and the buyer of their products the confidence in farms' ability to manage food safety risks, and so expands farmers' access to market providing necessary tools they need to remain competitive in the local food market (long-term goal). CFSA currently has close to 3000 members where we have estimated approximately 1800 of these members fall within the target audience of this project. This provides CFSA with the ability to market this program directly to the target audience, as well as to wider audiences, whom tailored food safety assistance has been identified as a preferred service in order to improve access to the local produce markets in the Carolina's estimating an increase of the target audience volume and/or value of product being sold into these more competitive markets to increase by $5000 - $30,000 per participating farm. Changes/Problems:The FoodLogiQ Platform has involved considerably more time than anticipated in CFSA staff training due to change over in employees at FoodLogiQ, as well as the complexity of the software. CFSA is currently in the process of conducting a final overview of the software as we end the pilot launch of the platform in order to provide FoodLogiQ with recommended software modification that would result in a more user-friendly platform for growers who are not computer literate and have limited capacity to maintain a complex traceability system. We have found that it is necessary to be on farm when assisting growers in learning to utilize the software, however our travel expenses and time allocations do not allow for the time needed, therefore we are in the process of creating a webinar that will be available to growers on an on-demand basis that will be utilized as a "quick start" reference as a supplement to the Manage + Monitor and Track + Trace User Manual for Growers. As a result, CFSA has not conducted as many one-on-one food safety consultations as planned at the beginning of the project. Additionally, Extension services is offering FSMA PSA workshops throughout the Carolina's, limiting the need for GAP workshops. CFSA has recently discussed with Extension staff the fact that growers still need GAP training in order to successfully conduct a GAP audit, and they agree but local county Extension agents do not understand the benefit of both GAP and FSMA trainings. CFSA has requested that this subject be brought up at the annual Extension conference in November and asked that they report back findings to CFSA. Due to the challenges that we are facing with growers having difficulty in implementing the online platform, we have requested a grant modification to provide more training and one-on-one assistance in demonstrating to the grower how to utilize the platform. Due to the additional travel requirements and time invested in the process, we have proposed in the grant modification to conduct two Navigating the GAP Audit webinars and two Writing a Food Safety Plan webinar to allow for additional food safety education opportunities for growers who are not able to attend an in-person workshop. We currently have additional funds from other grant sources to conduct in-person workshops and have identified a need to attract a larger audience. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two CFSA staff members have spent over 140 cumulative hours training one-on-one with the software companies staff members to learn how to effectively use the FoodLogiQ online platform and have invested additional hours as a team identifying features within the software applicable to our target audience. In additional to developing the skills to not only operate the software, but to assist our members in learning to utilize the software in a manner that will provide efficiencies, has allowed for employee growth and development opportunities. We have also identified and report to the software developer modifications that we feel will better suit the small to mid sized farm. As the project grows, the learning experiences and professional development directly related to food safety and traceability solutions within the fresh produce industry are anticipated to advance. Additionally, with the demand increasing for transparency within the supply chain, our target audience is gaining unprecedented technical knowledge advancing their businesses to meet the industry standards of the 21st century. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?CFSA attended the NIFA Director's Meeting in Blacksburg, VA on August 20, 2018 and reporting the results to date through a poster presentation and were given the opportunity to discuss the project with other FSOP project leaders. The program has been promoted through CFSA's monthly electronic newsletter, direct email to over 4,000 farmers in our database, on our website (3,500 program page views per year), Facebook page (over 9,000 followers), and Twitter account (over 5,000 followers). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we will fully launch the FoodLogiQ platform providing document storage and traceability solutions, as well as one-on-one assistance training growers on using the software if the grant modification is approved as referenced above. We will continue to market GAP education opportunities and provide direct assistance to growers on food safety program development and implementation. For reporting results, we will utilize the results of the pre-test and post-test for workshop participants, as well as conduct a survey with program participants.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GOAL #1: Conducted two 1-day workshops covering Principles of Fresh Produce Safety and Navigating the GAP Audit to 37 workshop participants. Florence, SC, February 20, 2018 (24 Participants) Roebuck, SC, July 23, 2018 (13 Participants) The workshops described in Goal #1 were conducted as a four-hour on-farm training covering nine modules. These modules include an introduction to food safety, land, worker health and hygiene, restroom and sewage, water, animals, manure, harvesting and packing equipment and containers, and traceability. Training material included detailed information on the risk factors associated with the use of agricultural water pre- and post-harvest to minimize potential microbial contamination and soil amendments and food safety concerns associated with biological contamination by pathogens, with a special emphasis on manure-based soil amendments and inadequate water quality. Materials developed for this component include a handbook containing PowerPoint slides covering the material presented during the workshop, supplemental handouts and examples, and the Fresh Produce Safety Hazard Assessment. This component was delivered in the morning just prior to the Navigating the GAP Audit classroom session. The Navigating the GAP Audit component was conducted as a four-hour classroom session, presenting an overview of what to expect during a USDA or Harmonized GAP Audit inspection. Materials developed for this component include the handbook containing the PowerPoint slides presented during the training and the CFSA Good Agricultural Practices for Small Diversified Farms manual. This component is designed to be presented in the afternoon session following Principles of Fresh Produce Safety. GOAL #2: Conducted zero 1-day workshops covering Food Safety Program Development to 120 workshop participants GOAL #3: Provided direct Food Safety Program and Plan Development and Direct Assistance to 9 small-scale farms seeking GAP certification Farm 2 Fork, Sumter, SC RE James Farm, Darlington, SC Home Sweet Farm, Loris, SC A Thrasher's Farm, Pelzer, SC New Ground Farm, Pembroke, NC Winburn Farms, Galivants Ferry, SC Blue Thumb Farms, Zebulon, SC Gallop Farms, Ehrhardt, SC Tuten Farms, Hampton, SC The Goal #3 component provided farmers with direct assistance developing and implementing a food safety program, which included a site visit in order to identify and address potential food safety risks, a review of program participant's food safety plans providing direct feedback, assistance implementing standard operating procedures and instructions for tasks necessary to mitigate food safety concerns, and assistance preparing for a GAP audit, and provided technical assistance to growers during the GAP audit, where applicable. Additionally, growers were introduced to the FoodLogiQ online platform to assist growers with traceability solutions and food safety document sharing with buyers. Issue/Problem and Solutions for Target Audience Problem #1: Traceability and Document Transparency Creating transparency on food safety within the food system is the primary goal of CFSA to enable small-scale growers the ability to compete within the wholesale market. Through this project, the target audience will be provided access to FoodLogiQ Manage + Monitor and Trace + Track software. The Manage + Monitor component will allow for growers to upload the operations food safety plan and accompanying documents, including any corrective or preventive actions taken, annual food safety plan reviews, and training activities. The software will provide reminders to growers as to when their audit is due and guidance on preparing for the audit. Corrective and preventive actions will be reviewed by CFSA staff to ensure that they are adequate in mitigating the food safety risk identified, further providing support to the grower. The Track + Trace software will provide growers with a robust traceability program that will allow for industry standard label printing and necessary traceability components accessible by the buyer. Solution: The target audience will gain knowledge of industry standard systems that will allow them to compete in wholesale markets. The platform will provide not only traceability solutions, but will ensure that growers adequately maintain their food safety program at all times providing confidence to the buyer. Problem #2: Development and Implementation of a Food Safety Program Growers continue to have challenges identifying food safety risks on the farm and in developing a food safety program that mitigates these risks. Solution: Through CFSA's Local Produce Safety Initiative, food safety experts will assist growers in conducting an on-farm risk assessment and in the development and implementation of a food safety program, including traceability and training components, that will satisfy the buyer's food safety requirements, as well as provide full-time access to provide transparency. Summary Statistics/Results Education activities were evaluated by conducting pre- and post-workshop questionnaires to measure knowledge gained by participating in the workshop. The 37 participants all showed increased knowledge based on the results of the questionnaires. It is too early within the project to fully measure participants' adoption and implementation of best management practices, as well as increased market access. This data will be collected through an annual survey that will be disseminated to program participants in November 2018 and the end of the project period. Data Collected An on-farm pre-test and post-test were designed to administer to the target audience to measure knowledge gained by participating in a workshop. Additionally, questions were added to gauge the interest in the use of a food safety/traceability online platform from the target audience. Outcomes/Accomplishments Out of nine farms that CFSA provided direct assistance to, two farms successfully passed a GAP audit resulting in no non-compliances and 6 farms implemented a food safety program and are audit ready. Although the farms were very engaged in the process of developing and implementing a food safety program, it was evident that growers needed additional assistance in identifying on-farm food safety risks, as well as incorporating policies and procedures to mitigate the risks and therefore may not complete the process of fully implementing the food safety program without the additional technical assistance and encouragement. During the pilot phase of the FoodLogiQ project, 10 farms were trained on the software and are implementing the Manage + Monitor software at their operation. CFSA will be conducting a full launch of the Manage + Monitor and Track + Trace platforms in December 2018 providing growers with the necessary resources through developed training materials for successful implementation. CFSA staff completed training on both platforms and conducted the following activities: Conducted Program Configuration Set-up CFSA Dashboard Configured Users and Roles Created Workflow Templates for supplier onboarding and internal processes Developed necessary reports customizing as needed Created a scoring rubric to assess grower performance and commitment to using the software on a consistent basis Designed custom workflows Created onboarding plan and communication plan for growers We did identify some potential pitfalls and limitations including low attendance at workshop and fewer one-on-one applications for direct technical assistance, for the workshops we were able to schedule the outcome of attendees was better than expected due to the amount of food safety workshops being conducted by other entities, as described under Changes/Problems, however we have not seen a decline for one-on-one applications and do not anticipate any delays in meeting direct assistance deliverables.
Publications
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