Food Safety Outreach Program grant

This collaborative project between College of the Sequoias Community College District and State Center Community College District as well as the Central Valley Food Safety Committee will help farmer and processor competitiveness by ensuring compliance to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The aim is to grow training, education, outreach and coordination efforts for California’s Central Valley farmers with the adoption of FSMA requirements by providing local and affordable food safety trainings/meetings.

For more information regarding this grant, please visit the NIFA website by clicking here.

With quality subject matter experts hired as trainers, the two districts have strong backgrounds in providing relevant, quality trainings as well as maintaining community partnerships in California’s Central Valley food production community. Trainings under this grant include: Produce Safety Rule Grower, Good Agricultural Practices, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, Foreign Supplier Verification Program, Preventive Controls for Human Foods.

How is COS Using the Grant?

To learn more about who is eligible under this grant, click here to view eligibility requirements.

The trainings conducted will solely be for small and mid-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, and small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. The trainings provided will be convenient and affordable as many farmers in the target audience often have difficulty attending these trainings because they are offered in the larger cities and require out of town travel that is costly and disruptive to their business operations. College of the Sequoias Community College District has experience delivering local, convenient and affordable FSMA and related food safety trainings.