Farm Food Safety
Food safety on the farm can be a bit challenging, but we have a shared responsibility to ensure the food we eat is traceable and safe.
Requirements vary depending on how much money you make and who your customers are. Fortunately in Arizona, we have abundant opportunities for peer-to-peer education & technical assistance, available to you whether you are seeking certification, or not. Read on for local resources.
Peer-to-Peer Trainings - Tiered to Meet Your Needs
Who’s it for? Anyone that wants to learn about on-farm hazards related to water, wildlife, waste, and workers.
Leading agency: Pinnacle Prevention (Arizona nonprofit)
If food safety is like a highway, where are you? Going full speed ahead – or still at home, planning your route? Pinnacle Prevention, an Arizona-based nonprofit, offers a 2-part series of tiered food safety trainings. They take a peer-to-peer approach to identifying and managing food safety risks on small-scale fruit and vegetable farms. This is a great opportunity for those just getting started in the world of farm food safety.
Tier I Training is a FREE on-farm, peer-to-peer workshop that discusses the 4 W’s of on-farm hazards: workers, waste, wildlife, and water. A shared meal and farm tour are provided. Expect to spend 4-5 hours learning alongside fellow farmers.
Tier II Training is a FREE opportunity to put pencil to paper and work on a Risk Assessment Document – breaking down those 4 W’s in a dedicated, focused space – with peers and experts in the room to support your process. What are your risks, and how will you manage them? Snacks are provided. Expect to spend 3-4 hours filling out the Risk Assessment Document.
Pinnacle Prevention’s trainings are not necessarily part of an audit or regulation, but rather the first step in learning about and managing on-farm food safety risks. Farms of all sizes can take steps to produce safer food. They are here to support farmers to get to where they want to be.
Third-Party Food Safety Certifications
“Approved Source”
Who’s it for? School Gardens wishing to serve the harvest in the cafeteria.
Certifying Agency: Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS)
Becoming an approved source is made easy with the templates and staff support from ADHS. The foundation for approval is the development and implementation of a strong Food Safety Plan, for which they provide user-friendly templates. The plan must include the following: land history, water source, soil composition and amendments, gardener hygiene and illness, and harvesting produce contact surfaces.
Good Handling Practices / Good Agricultural Practices (GHP/GAP)
Who’s it for? GHP/GAP Certification is requested or required by many wholesale buyers, including many local distributors
Certifying Agency: Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA)
The Good Handling Practices (GHP) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) are voluntary audits that verify that fruits and vegetables are produced, packed, handled, and stored as safely as possible to minimize risks of microbial food safety hazards.
AZDA provides one-to-one assistance for becoming GHP/GAP certified, whether you’re a traditional farmer or growing hydroponically. Hands down, the best way to begin pursuing your GHP/GAP certification is to contact small-farm-advocate Stewart Jacobson by phone at (602) 542-0950 or via email here.
Direct market farmers also have an opportunity to certify and even have the cost of certification reduced through the GHP/GAP cost-share program.
Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) & the Produce Safety Rule (PSR)
Who’s it for? The Rule offers educational resources to everyone producing raw commodities like fruits and/or veggies, but actual mandates for compliance depend on your sales.
Certifying Agency: Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA); and the FDA provides enforcement for all Tribal Entities.
The Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA (pronounced “FIZZ-MUH”), gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate the way foods are grown, harvested, packed, held, and cooled. The Arizona Department of Agriculture administers FSMA locally.
Per AZDA, all Arizona farms must complete the FSMA Produce Safety Rule Questionnaire to indicate whether you are covered by the “Rule” and to what level.
The following will find themselves exempt from the FSMA Produce Safety Rule:
Farms that sell less than $25,000 of fresh produce annually (when averaged over a 3 year period).
Produce that is used for personal or on-farm consumption.
Those Growers, Packers, Harvesters, and Holders whose average 3 year annual sales fall below $500,000 and only sell to a consumer, restaurant, or retail food establishment within 275 miles of where the produce is grown (and in-state) can apply for a qualified exemption.
Produce that is not a raw agricultural commodity (a raw agricultural commodity is any food in its raw or natural state).
The following produce commodities which FDA has identified as “rarely consumed raw”: asparagus; black beans, great Northern beans, kidney beans, lima beans, navy beans, and pinto beans; garden beets (roots and tops) and sugar beets; cashews; sour cherries; chickpeas; cocoa beans; coffee beans; collards; sweet corn; cranberries; dates; dill (seeds and weed); eggplants; figs; horseradish; hazelnuts; lentils; okra; peanuts; pecans; peppermint; potatoes; pumpkins; winter squash; sweet potatoes; and water chestnuts.
Food grains, including barley, dent- or flint-corn, sorghum, oats, rice, rye, wheat, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, and oilseeds (e.g. cotton seed, flax seed, rapeseed, soybean, and sunflower seed).
To verify your exemption, click here.
If you are covered by the “Rule”, how do you come into compliance?
Review the Small Entity Compliance Guide.
The Arizona Department of Agriculture is committed to supporting local growers. To meet this end, AZDA offers free outreach and training on the Produce Safety Rule to help folks come into compliance. All Farms, whether covered or not covered by the “Rule”, are invited to take advantage of these FREE resources.
Grower Training Class (required for all operations above $25,000 annual sales, highly recommended for all): This is an all-day, one-day class only that has to be taken only once by the food safety representative from your farm. The class is offered by Certified Trainers from AZDA at locations around the state.
On Farm Reviews (available to all): Offered to any farm to assist in compliance efforts, offering pre-inspection visits and technical assistance. ADZA offers to prepare your farm with an On Farm Readiness Review which will provide you with all the tools necessary to address the requirements under the Rule.
Additional Guidance:
Food Safety Podcasts
The Thriving Farmer Podcast has a podcast available here to help talk you through the logic of FSMA and determining your next steps.
Still not sure where to go next?
Reach out to your peers on the AZ Food Producer Opportunity Forum here or contact us.