Voluntary farm food safety assessment training launches Jan. 24
Fast Facts
- Free training in Food Safety Modernization Act set in Little Rock on Friday, Jan. 24
- Deadline to register is Jan. 21
- More info call Beverly Dunaway at 501-671-2344.
LITTLE ROCK – Ensuring food is safe from farm to table is the aim of a Jan. 24 training
session for Arkansas farm-to-market producers.
The Arkansas Voluntary Farm Food Safety Assessment Training will be held at the state
headquarters of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, 2301 S.
University Ave. in Little Rock. The training session is being held in conjunction
with the Arkansas Farmers Market Association annual meeting.
“We want growers and consumers to know that our food supply is safer than in any time in history,” said Steve Seideman, extension food processing specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
However, the nation’s “48 million cases of foodborne illness per year and 3,000 deaths annually are largely avoidable,” he said. “There are several key production and harvesting practices that growers can do to prevent many of these foodborne outbreaks.”
Ron Rainey, extension economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said that “with heightened attention being directed at food safety, the need for growers to implement and document their on-farm food safety practices is becoming more apparent.”
Rainey oversees the state’s MarketMaker program, which connects farmers to sales opportunities such as restaurants and farmers markets.
The training will focus on six areas of food safety concerns that cause most food safety incidents as well as teach participants the minimum record-keeping standards needed to document their on-farm food safety efforts. It will also include a progress update on the Food Safety Modernization Act detailing the anticipated timeline for implementation.
The Arkansas Voluntary Farm Food Safety fact sheet (www.uaex.uada.edu/publications/pdf/FSA-9802.pdf ) will be used as a template for the training that will explore each element in greater detail. The FFSA Training will educate Arkansas growers and prepare them for implementing and documenting their on-farm food safety efforts.
There is no cost to attend and the deadline to register is Tuesday, Jan. 21.
To register, go to
http://forms.uada.edu/MM/AVFSAT-Registration.asp or, call Beverly Dunaway at 501-671-2344.
Lunch will be provided.
For more information about the programs of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, contact your county extension office or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Please note that many links to extension publications will be changing this spring as the extension service renovates its site.
The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
January 17, 2014
By Mary Hightower
Cooperative Extension Service
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Media Contact: Mary Hightower
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2126
mhightower@uada.edu
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