Produce Growers’ Opinions Requested to Inform Food Safety Resources

Credit: The Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety (NECAFS)

To make educational materials more relevant to fruit and vegetable growers and packers, the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) and personnel from the Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety (NECAFS) at the University of Vermont would like to understand the costs of and the barriers to beginning or expanding food safety practices on farms and in packinghouses. The groups have developed a survey to collect food safety information from fruit and vegetable growers across the U.S.

The survey seeks to understand what steps growers have taken toward adopting food safety practices on their farms, the costs of adopting food safety practices (both one-time and reoccurring), and what questions growers have about food safety. The information that is provided will allow future educational materials to be tailored to specific challenges that growers are facing.

PSA and NECAFS are looking for feedback from people involved in fruit and vegetable production and packing, including those who have and who have not adopted food safety practices. The survey should be completed by someone who has knowledge about the operation’s produce safety practices (e.g., equipment, finances, supplies, training, market distribution, and third-party audits).

Participation is voluntary and anonymous. The survey will take 10–30 minutes to complete. Additionally, survey entrants can choose to be entered into a raffle to win a $75 prepaid credit card. Ten participants will randomly be selected to win. The raffle will be held when the survey closes, approximately May 1, 2023.

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