The Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety (NECAFS) at the University of Vermont is pleased to share this set of resources for Produce Safety in Hydroponic and Aquaponic Operations. These resources, primarily written for the audience of produce safety educators and regulatory officials, guide readers through produce safety considerations specific to hydroponic and aquaponic operations. They assume a general background in the FSMA PSR and are supplementary to the content of the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training. The factsheets cover first steps in discussing produce safety with growers and other stakeholders in hydroponics and aquaponics.
The Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety Rule (FSMA PSR) sets mandatory standards for growing, harvesting, packing, and holding produce for human consumption. Farms that are covered by the FSMA PSR will be held to certain standards designed to reduce the presence of foodborne illness causing organisms that can contaminate produce. For farms that may not be subject to the FSMA PSR, it is still important to consider the implementation of these practices to reduce produce safety risk.