Source: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS submitted to NRP
BRIDGING THE GAP: CREATING FSMA-PSR AND GAP-INSPIRED FOOD SAFETY OUTREACH PROGRAM FOR UNDERSERVED URBAN GROWERS IN ILLINOIS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1030981
Grant No.
2023-70020-40561
Cumulative Award Amt.
$149,580.00
Proposal No.
2023-03026
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 15, 2023
Project End Date
Sep 14, 2025
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[A4182]- Regional FSMA Center
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
2001 S. Lincoln Ave.
URBANA,IL 61801
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This project aims to develop and deliver a customized food safety outreach program to underserved urban farmers in Illinois. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR) creates opportunities to train a diverse audience, including underserved growers. Moreover, in 2018, USDA aligned its Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices (HGAP) audit services with the requirements of the FSMA-PSR. The PSR is the prevailing federal regulation for covered farms in the US, while the GAP audit programs are voluntary, buyer-driven market access tools for growers. For very small growers, the differences between PSR and GAP remain confusing. To address this, in this Community Outreach Project, we propose developing a PSR and GAP-related food safety training, education, Extension, and outreach program in Illinois with the following objectives:Objective 1: Identifying specific food safety training needs and barriers to access food safety resources within urban minority growers in Chicagoland and other parts of Illinois.Objective 2: Organizing onsite training workshops and implement a stakeholder-driven education and outreach program for urban growers and producers on appropriate food safety topics, including basics of Farm Food Safety (FFS); introduction to FSMA Produce Safety Rule (PSR); overview of GAP audit program; PSR and GAP - key differences. The content developed will be integrated with the Virtual Food Safety Outreach Platform at Illinois (VFSOPI) platform.Our project will fulfill critical food safety, technical and educational needs of several GAP and FSMA-covered topics for small urban minority growers involved in urban farming operations across Illinois.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
71250101100100%
Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins;

Subject Of Investigation
5010 - Food;

Field Of Science
1100 - Bacteriology;
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to deliver a customized food safety outreach program to underserved urban farmers in Illinois. Implementing FSMA-PSR and aligning HGAP with PSR creates a unique opportunity to increase produce safety while opening new avenues for the economic well-being of the farming communities, including underserved growers. Accordingly, in this Community Outreach Project, we propose developing a PSR and GAPs-related food safety training, education, Extension, and outreach program in Illinois.
Project Methods
In collaboration with our community partners, we will work on identifying specific food safety training needs and barriers to accessing food safety resources within urban minority growers in Chicagoland and other parts of Illinois. We will develop GAPs and FSMA-PSR-specific content (e.g., PSR, pre-and post-harvest water sampling, biological soil amendments) as well as GAPs and general food safety-related topics (e.g., FSP, general soil testing). The content developed will be integrated with the Virtual Food Safety Outreach Platform at Illinois (VFSOPI) platform that is developed through another FSOP grant awarded to the PI Banerjee (NIFA Grant # 2020-70020-33033). We will develop and implement a stakeholder-driven education and outreach program. We will organize onsite training workshops for growers and producers. We will provide support to community organizations working with urban underserved growers communities across the state of Illinois by awarding small grants through a request for application (RFA) mechanism to develop food safety educational and demonstration resources.

Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project includes urban farmers in the Chicagoland area; the majority of these farmers are African American/Black. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two food safety workshops were conducted for a group of minority urban farmers in Cook County, IL, and Chicago, IL. The workshops included presentations on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) resources and their distinctions from the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule (FSMA-PSR), among other topics. Beyond these on-site events, efforts have been made to expand the number of minorities in the FSMA Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) certified trainers from within the Illinois Extension system. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated by distributing educational materials relevant to GAP and PSR to stakeholders within Illinois. Our GAP workshop in the summer of 2024 in Chicago was co-organized by our collaborating community organization (Eden Place Farm-Fuller Park Community Development). The food safety course for small farmers developed in this cycle also provides an avenue for the dissemination of food safety knowledge. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to accomplish all outstanding goals during the next reporting period. For the upcoming year of the funding cycle, our objectives include arranging between 2 and 4 workshops across Illinois and greater Cook County/metropolitan Chicago. Which will include conducting hands-on boot camps hands-on activities on produce washing, water, and soil sampling demonstrations.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the reporting cycle, we have developed GAPs and FSMA-PSR-specific content (e.g., PSR, pre- and post-harvest water sampling, biological soil amendments) as well as GAPs and general food safety-related topics (e.g., FSP, general soil testing). This includes, 1) The Basics of Developing a Food Safety Plan (FSP), 2) Role of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in Improving Food Safety; 3) The Basics of FSMA Produce Safety Regulations (PSR) and Compliance with PSR; 4) Overview of Pre- and Post-Harvest Water Sampling and Analysis. We have also offered two on-site and four virtual training workshops.

Publications