This project will support food hubs across three U.S. Regions - california, oregon, and vermont - in their understanding and adoption of food safety practices to improve regulatory compliance

The University of California Office of the President, Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources, received a $398,016 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Food Safety Outreach Program (CFDA 10.328), awarded on September 15, 2025, with a completion date of September 14, 2028. This award supports a three-state food hub capacity-building initiative spanning California, Oregon, and Vermont to enhance understanding and adoption of Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) compliance practices among food aggregators and regional food supply chains.

The project delivers technical assistance and educational resources designed to strengthen food safety practices across participating food hubs. Key deliverables include the establishment of collaborative networks among technical assistance providers to share best practices and concerns; peer-to-peer learning cohorts and mock produce safety (PC) inspections; virtual office hours and trainings for low-resource, emerging, and small-scale food aggregators; and development of FSMA-focused educational resources including a PC Rule Inspection Checklist, Food Traceability Rule Information Sheet, and FSMA Status Learning Module. These resources and services are disseminated broadly to support food hub viability and extend capacity-building and knowledge-sharing infrastructure across state lines.

By building upon existing food hub food safety programming, the project team will: (1) establish strong collaborative relationships between technical assistance providers via food hub networks to share common food safety concerns, educational resources, and best practices; (2) leverage existing partnerships to reach low resource, emerging, and small-scale food aggregators; and (3) build capacity of food hubs at different scales in different counties, states, and regions to understand and comply with fsma. These objectives will be achieved through virtual and in-person technical assistance and food safety resource development. Food hubs will participate in peer-to-peer learning cohorts, mock PC inspections, virtual office hours, and trainings. The educational resources (PC rule inspection checklist, food traceability rule information sheet, and fsma status learning module) will be disseminated to a broad target audience. This cross-state collaboration will extend resources and capacity-building beyond state lines and contribute to a growing network of food hub and food hub technical service provider linkages supporting the viability of food hubs and regional food supply chains.