Foodborne microbial human disease produces significant financial and quality of life losses in the U.S. Each year

Texas A&M AgriLife Research received a $391,195 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) under the Food Safety Outreach Program (CFDA 10.328) on September 15, 2025, with a completion date of September 14, 2028. The award supports a collaborative education and training initiative to enhance food safety practices among cottage food producers in Texas and Arkansas by translating and adapting fundamental food safety principles and preventive controls from the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) to the small-scale, in-home production environment. The project addresses the gap in tailored food safety training and tools available to this underserved producer segment, which plays an important role in the U.S. food economy.

The project delivers four interconnected phases of assessment, translation, training, and impact evaluation. Phase I involves an initial assessment of food safety awareness among past cottage food training participants in Texas and Arkansas. Phase II focuses on translating and adapting FSMA preventive control principles to the cottage food production context. Phase III delivers targeted food safety protection tools through in-person and online training programs designed to gauge participant receptivity and immediate knowledge gains. Phase IV assesses the adoption and behavioral impact of the adapted food safety strategies among participating producers. The Division of Agriculture of the University of Arkansas serves as a sub-grantee, contributing to the collaborative delivery of training and technical assistance across both states.

While the degree to which is unknown, improper in-home food preparation and preservation contributes to the total incidence of human foodborne disease. Cottage food manufacturers play an important role in the U.S.'S food economy development but need tailored food safety trainings, tools to safely produce foods at the small in-home scale. The purpose of this project is to protect food safety for foods manufactured by cottage food entities by equipping them with tools and strategies adapted from the FDA fsma applicable for food safety protection at cottage production scale. Project objectives are to translate fundamental food safety principles and concepts from food safety preventive controls to TX and AR cottage food industries; prepare and pilot targeted training on food safety strategies to participants enrolling in TX- and AR-located cottage food safety training programs (in-person, online) to gauge trainee receptivity to provided tools and immediate knowledge gains, and; assess adoption of food safety strategies adapted to the cottage food manufacturer. This collaborative education and training project is designed in four phases allowing the completion of one phase to facilitate the initiation of the next. Project phases are I) initial assessment of food safety principles and practices awareness of past cottage food trainings participants from TX and AR; II) food safety preventive control principles translation and adaptation; III) cottage food producer food safety protection tools delivery, and; IV) food safety knowledge and behavior impacts assessment.