A standard operating procedure, or SOP, like a recipe, is a step-by-step guide to completing a task to get the same results each time. This video describes how to construct an SOP for farm procedures to help train employees, ensure consistency and improve efficiency and quality.
Developing good procedures for cleaning and sanitizing harvest equipment and post-harvest facilities is critical for ensuring high-quality product and reducing food safety risks. This video describes how to develop a strategy for cleaning post-harvest areas.
FDA’s Food Safety Plan Builder is a user-friendly, standalone tool designed to assist owner/operators of food facilities with the development of food safety plans that are specific to their facilities and meet the requirement of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food regulation.
In this video series from Penn State, you will learn what the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is and whether your farm or food business may be affected by it. We’ll look at two of the seven FSMA rules that will affect farms, food processors and packing houses across the nation – the Produce Safety Rule and the Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule – and help you determine whether your...
This three-part video series from Penn State presents the best practices for post-harvest washing of fresh produce. This video is available in English and Spanish.
A series of fact sheets available for viewing in your browser with links to full color formatted PDF documents.
Decision Trees: Farm Food Safety Decision Making Made Easy! The purpose of the Decision Trees is to: - Help you identify risks and practices that reduce risks; - Prioritize the implementation of practices to use limited resources wisely; - Familiarize you with the terms and methods necessary to understand and follow...
The Preventive Controls for Human Food rule clarified the definition of a farm to cover two types of farm operations, primary production farms and secondary activities farms. The same definition is used in the Produce Safety rule (section 112.3(c)). This flowchart has basic criteria that determine whether an operation that meets the definition of “farm” is subject to the produce rule.
The Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) is a collaboration between Cornell University, FDA, and USDA to prepare fresh produce growers to meet the regulatory requirements included in the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule.
A web-based fact sheet from the FDA providing an overview of the final rule. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Preventive Controls for Human Food rule is now final, and compliance dates for some businesses begin in September 2016.