Items Tagged with 'Produce Safety Rule'

Penn State Extension will offer a series of in-person and virtual training sessions for Pennsylvania fruit and vegetable growers on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR), Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), and the co-management of natural resources and food safety.

This episode of Food Safety Five highlights new research on cold storage practices for fresh-cut produce, food safety perspectives among small-scale produce growers exempt from FDA's FSMA Produce Safety Rule, and water management strategies that reduce arsenic in rice.

Researchers from Purdue University conducted focus groups with Indiana produce growers who qualified for exemptions from the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule, examining the beliefs and practical constraints that shape on-farm food safety practices.

Providing evidence for potential Produce Safety Rule standards, the assessment examined how pathogens survive in untreated biological soil amendments of animal origin (BSAAO) and contaminate produce. FDA found that longer time between BSAAO application and harvest significantly reduces crop contamination.

A report published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessed FDA’s completion of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and identified several areas requiring more work, such as FSMA 204 implementation, certain Produce Safety Rule and Preventive Controls guidances, and required assessments.

The FY 2026 appropriations bill, approved by Senate to end the U.S. government shutdown, sets forth FDA’s Human Foods Program budget for FY 2026. It also prohibits the use of federal funds to enforce certain FSMA rules within designated timeframes or for specific commodities.

The resources for industry include updated FAQs and information about how FDA plans to implement the pre-harvest agricultural water provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule.

A survey of produce growers found that seven percent of respondents do not implement food safety risk reduction practices on their farms, reporting time and money to be the biggest challenges. Larger operations and farms subject to third-party audits were more likely to adopt risk reduction practices. 

Penn State Extension will host a two-day webinar in April to help produce growers meet the requirements of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

The Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water Rule amends existing provisions within the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety Rule, representing a shift from strict microbial quality criteria to a nuanced, systems-based assessment approach, intended to support food safety by addressing contamination risks through an adaptive, comprehensive framework.