From the Desk of

The Produce Safety Team

July 22nd, 2024

Wrapping Your Mind Around the Pre-Harvest Water Rule

Allissa Conley, Produce Safety Technician

Sprinkler spraying water onto a produce field

The new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Final Rule on Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water may seem like a lot to swallow, but we at the Michigan On-Farm Produce Safety team are here to help you along the way by providing assistance and resources to make it more digestible.

Read about the water rule

Risk Prioritization Tool for Agricultural Water

Phil Tocco, Michigan State University Extension Educator

It can be hard to assess risks of various water sources and take everything into consideration. The Risk Prioritization Tool for Agricultural Water was designed to help you do just that. Principal Investigator (PI) Annalisa Hultberg, and co-PI’s Don Stoeckel and Phil Tocco worked for several years to create this educational tool with support from the NIFA Food Safety Outreach Program. The tool was designed for fresh produce growers (and those who work with fresh produce growers) who seek to understand how to move beyond E. coli test results for a more holistic view of water quality risk factors.

Reducing Water Contact to Reduce Risk

This is the first in a series of videos that is meant to help you understand factors that may affect the quality of your water used on your farm. These explanations may be useful as you use the Risk Prioritization Tool for Agricultural Water. This video deals with the irrigation events, and other times water contacts produce.

Watch video

USDA Offers Food Safety Assistance to Eligible Growers

Allissa Conley, Produce Safety Technician

The USDA Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops Program offers financial assistance for specialty crop operations that incur eligible food safety expenses, including the cost of renewing or receiving a new food safety certification, and a percentage of the related expenses.

Learn more about USDA financial assistance

FREE Resources and Low-Cost Training Opportunities

Request a FREE OFRR at your farm (Michigan Growers)

Online Produce Safety Supervisor Training ($100)

FREE Produce Safety Texts

Produce Safety Grower Training Interest Survey

Michigan On-Farm Produce Safety Team

1715 Lansing Ave, Jackson, MI 49202 | MSU Extension MACD Produce Safety Technicians

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