Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:During the past year, there were 590 participants from the Plain Communities (486, Amish and Mennonite) and Food Safety Educational Providers(104). The plain community participants were from across New York State with concentrations areas of northern, central, and western New York (NY).The Food Safety Educational Providers were from across 23 states. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Other than the above trainings listed in the accomplishments. Additional trainings that are part of the grant were provided. Obj. 3: Deliver adapted Produce Safety Alliance Grower Trainings for auction communities subject to the FSMA PSR On November 11, 2023 a FSMA: Produce Safety Alliance Training was held inCanajoharie, NY for 21 participants. These 21 participants received FSMA PSA certificates for completion of the training. On October 17, 2024 a GAP's training was held in Lowville, NY for 7 participants. All 7 participants completed the training and will be working towards GAP certification. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Obj. 4: Offer a professional development workshop for educators to facilitate peer-to-peer sharing of extension strategies when working with the Plain growers On March 20, 2024 a webinar was held for food safety educators and food safety regulators. There were 104 participants from 23 across states. During the webinar that objectives and results were shared with the participants. In September 2024 the project direct also presented at the yearly USDA NIFA FSOP conference regarding the project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project has been completed.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Obj. 1: Develop culturally-appropriate food safety learning tools in conjunction with a grower advisory group Over the past two years we created supplemental resources to help with educational outreach of the project. The resource is located on the NECAFS website under:https://foodsafetyclearinghouse.org/resources/food-safety-supplemental-material. These resources were used at meetings with growers included field walks, yearly trainings, and one-on-one meetings. These were the identifiedtopics that were created: • Injuries on the Farm • Hand Washing • Low-Cost Handwashing Station for Field Use • Keeping the Wash/Pack Area Clean: Changing or Cleaning Shoes • Chemical and Fertilizer Spills • Surface Water Quality from Ponds, Streams, or Other Open Sources • Irrigation Water from Wells • High Quality Water for Washing and Cleaning • Keeping Animals out of Produce Fields and Wash/Pack Areas • Manure Handling • Getting Ready for Harvest • Cleaning the Produce Wash Area • Cleaning and Storing Harvesting Containers • Storing Packing Boxes • Bringing Your Produce to Auction or Market: Transportation Obj. 2: Provide on-farm and auction technical assistance to support food safety practice adoption on individual farms Over the past year the following technical assistance was provided to 458 plain community members. the below chart shows dates, location, auction involved, number of participants, and topic area covered. Date Location Auction Participant # Topic 9/15/2023 North Bangor St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction Annual Meeting 74 FSMA PSR coverage, qualified exemption requirements Fall 2023 and winter 5 auctions WNY Providing Accurate Financial Info for Determining Exclusion or Qualified Exemption for PSR 160 The Why's and How's FSMA PSR might or might not apply to auction growers and how to prove if qualified end users purchased their produce or was it distributors 12/19/2024 North Bangor St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction Annual Winter Meeting 35 Animals around, packing facility, post-harvest 3/22/2024 Gouverneur Potential Auction 42 Basic Food Safety 3/22/2024 Penn Yan Amish produce marketing cooperative wash/pack meeting 45 practices aimed at food safety with wash/pack activities 4/10/2024 Stanley Ontario produce auction - revisiting water quality and testing 27 importance of assessing water quality for irrigation and wash water 4/26/2024 Clymer Clymer auction growers meeting 19 Intro food safety 6/21/2024 Fort Covington St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction Twilight Meeting 15 Post Harvest 7/18/2024 Albion Orleans Produce Auction - water quality revisited 11 assessing water quality and water testing wells for washing produce 8/2/2024 North Lawrence St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction Twilight Meeting 30 Wash Pack Facility
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
https://foodsafetyclearinghouse.org/resources/food-safety-supplemental-material
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:This project is having a good response from the plain communities(Amish and Mennonite) in New York. During the reporting period 24 outreach events were hosted with 498 individuals attending the outreach events. New York State (NYS) is home to the fastest growing Plain population in the country. Around the state, Plain populations consist of many different settlements of Amish and conservative Mennonites that differ in their acceptance of technology, customs, and agricultural practices. Since each community is different, educational outreach must be personalized, but one common trait is that it requires face-to-face support. Individual farm visits, small grower workshops, and twilight meetings are essential for extension to build long-term relationships with Plain growers. This project focuses on adjusting training methods to better fit the communities' abilities and acceptance for everyday food safety practices on their farms. One such way is creating personalized simple SOP's for the different food safety practices while using culturally-sensitive terminology. The project is providing a series of farm and auction visits, twilight meetings, and small group meetings to work with Plain growers to identify critical areas of food safety improvement and to develop simple SOP's that result in safer produce production. Changes/Problems:When the grant was awarded, we were given the optionfor additional funds. We opted for the additional funds to support individuals in the plain community to become trainers for the FSMA curriculum. At the moment we are having a difficult time finding individuals and a training date/location that works well for theplain community. This outcome may not be completed under this grant which would have funds left over. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over the past year the project team has participated in two educational outreaches among Cornell Cooperative Extension educators. At these outreach programs among educators the project team provided information to educators on how to work with the plain communities in regard to food safety. At each of the meetings there were about 10 educators. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information is provided to the communities in the form of handouts which are being created and reviewed by individuals in the communities. The handouts are shared at produce auction meetings, one-on-one visits, field walks, and twilight meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to create handouts and educational outreach during the next reporting period. The plan is to have the professional development workshop for educators in March 2024. During November 2023 the eastern NY FSMA training will be held. Overall the grant is on schedule.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We are in the processing of creating cultural appropriate learning tools. The materials are currently being reviewed by educators and community members. During this reporting period 24 outreach events were hosted with 498 individuals attending the events. This outreach events included produce auction meetings and field walk/twilight meetings. Listed below is the outreach that was completed this past year which includes date, meeting name, number of participants, and What was discussed/taught. Date Meeting Name Number of Participants What was discussed/taught 9/16/2022 St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction Annual Meeting 88 What is food safety and why is it important? 9/30/2022 Romulus (Seneca auction) 4 Ag Water. Post harvest water and sanitizer. Cleaning 10/29/2022 Centerville (Genesee Valley auction 22 Wash/pack practices to implement for efficiency including food safety practices that will produce higher quality product. 12/9/2022 GAPs training and farm plan writing Yates Cty Finger Lakes auction 9 Principles and practices for implementation to meet buyer required GAPs audit and attract higher prices at auction. 12/20/2022 St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction 47 Recalls, Food Safety Case, Outbreak, Virus, Bacteria, and Parasite 2/2/2023 GAPs training for apple growers 6 Principles and practices for implementation to meet buyer required GAPs audit and attract higher prices at auction 2/10/2023 Clymer 28 Multiple Topics 2/16/2023 Ontario auction meeting 25 Meeting with board and education committees on finding key food safety practices that pose barriers for further adoption of practices. Irrigation water quality, well water for wash/pack activities, and manure handling identified as major topics for assistance with growers. 3/13/2023 Chautauqua Cty CCE staff meeting 5 Discuss how to work with Amish growers who ask questions about food safety training, GAPs, HGAPs, and FSMA. 4/20/2023 St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction 15 Ag Water 4/24/2023 meeting with FLX Farm Fresh Coop Board 9 Met with board of start-up Amish organic produce marketing cooperative. Discussed importance of traceability and created lot codes and farmer ID number system for labelling all produce coming into the coop for sales. Designed traceback system for farmers and for coop. 5/4/2023 FLX Farm Fresh full coop farmer mtg 33 Group discussion on irrigation/wash water quality, why and how to clean harvest bins and tools, and detailed training on how to use the traceability program designed from board meeting. 5/22/2023 produce grower meeting Chautauqua 31 Introduction to food safety practices as it relates to improving quality of produce which is good for business. Handed out single page food safety practice topic manual and going over simple concepts of implementation for hand washing, cleaning off boots, portable hand washing stations, cleaning and storing of harvest bins, inspecting wash/pack food contact surfaces and simple cleaning procedures, well water quality, and teaching family members on food safety. also provided each grower with a hygienically design cleaning brush for doing better job of cleaning harvest bins and explaining why it is important. 5/31/2023 Mohawk Valley Produce Auction Twilight Meeting 21 Importance of food safety, FSMA PSR coverage, water quality 6/8/2023 St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction Twilight Meeting 8 Worker hygiene 7/9/2023 Ontario Produce auction water testing day 12 First date for handing out water sample bottles and instructions to growers for irrigation water sampling and well water sampling for wash/pack. Bottles handed out before auction began on 7/9 and picked up water sample bottles from growers before auction began on 7/11. 15 water samples collected and delivered to lab. 7/11/2023 Ontario Produce auction water testing day 12 First date for handing out water sample bottles and instructions to growers for irrigation water sampling and well water sampling for wash/pack. Bottles handed out before auction began on 7/9 and picked up water sample bottles from growers before auction began on 7/11. 15 water samples collected and delivered to lab. 7/18/2023 water sample test result consultations 12 Upon receiving water test results, called each Ontario auction grower participant individually and discussed results of water tests. Provided recommendations based on results. Helped to get them to start baseline records for continued water sampling this season and into 2024. Some growers discovered that wells tested positive for generic E. coli so they responded by ceasing use and following instructions shocked wells and retested. 7/20/2023 St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction Twilight Meeting 29 Manure and soil amendments 7/24/2023 Learned that FDA requiring proof of Qualified Exemption from auction growers and small growers Quickly responded to news of record keeping proof growers need to prove/maintain FSMA exclusion or qualified exemption. Created info handouts for produce auction management to identify Qualified End Users and provide this information on grower sales slips each week. Reaching out to growers to help them establish record keeping skills and running tallies on sales to Qualified End Users and distributors who are not QEU. Discovered many farmers not comfortable with math and often lack the skills necessary needed to provide information. Created easy to use tally sheets for wives/daughters who have had greater education to do this task. 8/16/2023 Mohawk Valley Produce Auction Twilight Meeting 3 One-on-one conversations about FSMA PSR coverage, water testing 8/24/2023 met with Genesee Valley Produce Auction board 9 Discussed what the FSMA regulations are and how growers might fall under regulations unless they have information on who is or is not Qualified End Users. Helped auction come up with an action plan to move forward on the distributor designation. We will also work with growers to understand what FSMA is how they might qualify for the Exclusions or Qualified Exemptions if their sales of food meets requirements. 8/25/2023 met with Chautauqua Produce Auction management 4 Discussed what the FSMA regulations are and how growers might fall under regulations unless they have information on who is or is not Qualified End Users. Helped auction come up with an action plan to move forward on the distributor designation. We will also work with growers to understand what FSMA is how they might qualify for the Exclusions or Qualified Exemptions if their sales of food meets requirements. 9/8/2023 Auction grower farm visit GAPs audit review 4 Met with 4 growers getting ready for a GAPs audit and reviewed their farm food safety plan and walked through the farm following their plan to see how it is working. It was a great way to see if the farmers really understood the food safety practices and see the practices in place 9/15/2023 St Lawrence Valley Produce Auction Annual Meeting 74 FSMA PSR coverage, qualified exemption requirements
Publications
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