Food Safety Modernization Act 101 Webinar for Organic Agricultural Professionals
Organic professionals are invited to join the CCOF Foundation and Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) for a series of webinars on how the new federal food safety regulations intersect with organic regulations. The first webinar will review Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulation basics and discuss how they integrate into National Organic Program requirements.
Are the organic growers you work with asking you questions about the new federal food safety regulations? Do you find FSMA regulations confusing and difficult to understand, especially how they co-exist with organic regulations? This webinar will review the key components of FSMA regulations and link you to resources to find out more about FSMA requirements for organic growers.
FSMA enforcement for some farms starts in January 2018, so professionals who work with organic growers may face increased questions about food safety during interactions with growers. Get up to speed on FSMA basics, as well as food safety topics pertinent to organic growers, so you can answer basic questions with confidence and redirect growers to food safety resources.
In the first webinar of the series, FSMA 101, Kali Feiereisel and Dave Runsten from CAFF will demystify the new federal food safety requirements for produce farms. Hear the details on the different FSMA compliance categories for farms, as well as the timeline for when farms need to comply. Feiereisel and Runsten will discuss how organic farms may already address some FSMA requirements through the records growers keep for their Organic System Plan (OSP). Then they will highlight FSMA topics that fall outside the OSP, including water and worker health and hygiene. The webinar will also touch on California state-level food safety regulations. Time will be reserved for questions from webinar participants.
About Our Speakers
Kali Feiereisel serves as CAFF’s Food Safety Specialist. She provides food safety technical assistance to farmers as they further develop their practices to meet new requirements. In addition to her background in diversified vegetable production, Feiereisel recently studied food safety, local food systems, and food-and-agriculture policy while completing her graduate degree in public health nutrition from University of California, Berkeley.
Dave Runsten serves as CAFF’s policy director. He directs all of CAFF’s policy work, as well as food safety and water stewardship outreach. Runsten is an agricultural economist who conducted research on topics such as contract agriculture in Mexico, fair trade coffee in Oaxaca, regional competitiveness of the produce industry, living wages in Los Angeles, and farm labor in California.
About Our Partners
This webinar is a collaboration between the CCOF Foundation and CAFF. This webinar is funded through a grant from the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (WSARE) program.
Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) builds sustainable food and farming systems through policy advocacy and on-the-ground programs that create more resilient family farms, communities, and ecosystems.
WSARE: This webinar is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under an award through the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE) program. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.