Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** currently in california, there…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** currently in california, there has been limited direct investment from the state to enable non-governmental employees to provide education to growers in california related to food safety and the produce safety rule. To better support CA growers, many non-governmental organizations (NGOS) and academic institutions have been able to provide produce safety education, in addition to technical assistance to growers, through receiving funds from federal and state competitive grant programs. From 2016-2022, these groups have acquired $7,675,071 in competitive funding. This was distributed across 37 projects and 18 organizations. While these groups have been successful completing their individual project goals, there has not been systematic coordination at a statewide level between these organizations. Leveraging efforts and sharing resources can enhance the impact of these projects within the state. Through assembling a consortium of food safety educators together in a formal manner, we will be able to facilitate peer to peer educator learning as well as draw more advanced training opportunities to the state. The main goal of this project is to establish the california center for food safety (CCFS) to coordinate statewide efforts related to produce safety and food safety regulatory compliance within california. Additionally, the CCFS will facilitate the training of a cadre of food safety educators within california. The objectives are (1) coordinate statewide PSA grower and GAP training efforts across CA; (2) provide one-on-one technical assistance to growers within the state to enhance the adoption of food safety practices; and (3) creation of a trainer development program to support produce safety educators within CA.