On-Farm Readiness Review Tool and Training Curriculum to Help Farmers Assess Their Readiness to Comply with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule

Abstract

A team of extension professionals and state and national regulatory staff convened by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture developed the On-Farm Readiness Review (OFRR) to support farm personnel on compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR). The OFRR tool was created to align the FSMA PSR provisions with relevant farming practices in time and space; it also linked recommendations for implementation of PSR requirements and offered evaluation criteria to assess PSR compliance before inspection. The developed tool is composed of a decision tree, walk-around questions, and a resource manual. The tool is the foundation of the training curriculum. The tool and curriculum were piloted and evaluated by participants to inform additional development of the final product. OFRR trainings were held nationally, and participants were trained on how to use the tool to conduct a confidential on-farm assessment of a farm’s readiness for a FSMA PSR inspection. The tools and training have had a beneficial impact on participants understanding of the FSMA PSR, have increased the assessors’ ability to apply the PSR to the farm, and have developed trained assessor teams that are able to evaluate inspectional readiness in their home state.