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Does the FSMA Produce Safety Rule Apply to Your Farm?
31 Plays4 years ago
Figuring out whether or not your farm is covered or exempt from the FSMA Produce Safety Rule can be confusing. In this episode, you'll hear from Emily Hale, a Produce Safety Technician covering the east side of Michigan, and Rich and Cindy Kern, co-owners of Cardinal Farms in South Lyon, Michigan. Emily will walk the Kerns through a series of questions to help them determine how the rule applies to their farm.
To contact a Michigan Produce Safety Technician, you may visit https://www.miofps.org/
Additional Resources:
FSMA Produce Safety Rule Flowchart
"Am I Covered?" Interactive Video
Funding for this podcast was made possible in part by the Food and Drug Administration through grant PAR-16-137. The views expressed in the posted materials do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does any mention of trade names, commercial practices or organization imply endorsement by the United States Government.
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Transcript
Introduction to FSMA Produce Safety Rule
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Agri-Food Safety Produce Bytes podcast, where we discuss all things produce safety and dive into the rules and regulations surrounding the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule. In this episode, Emily Hale, a Michigan produce safety technician, will sit down with growers and help clarify whether or not they are subject to the requirements of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hi, I'm Emily Hale. I am one of the produce safety technicians located in Michigan, and I am housed in the Blue Water Conservation District over in Kimball, Michigan.
Cardinal Farms' Story and Production
00:00:36
Speaker
We're rich in Cindy Kern and we are the co-owners of Cardinal Farms in South Lyon, Michigan. We bought this property in 2019. It was formerly a horse farm. And so it had a couple of existing barns and some fencing and paddocks. This is about 10 acres. So in the last year and a half, we've converted it into small scale crop production as well as livestock production.
00:01:07
Speaker
So do you guys grow, harvest, pack, or hold produce? Yes, to all of that. So we do grow everything that we sell. We grow here on the farm. We also do our own harvesting and we have an initial wash pack set up in the garage attached to our house right now.
00:01:31
Speaker
And we don't, we, we hold produce, but very briefly. So for a couple of days for CSA or a couple of days for farmer's market, but most everything that we harvest in prep right now is sold fairly quickly into various markets. Okay.
Impact of Sales on FSMA Consideration
00:01:53
Speaker
And does your farm on average in the last
00:01:57
Speaker
Last three years have 25,000 or less in annual sales.
00:02:02
Speaker
We do. Last year was really our first full year of growing and we were about $10,000 under that number for last year. We've done some work over the winter and projecting for this coming year and we think we'll be above that probably in the range of between $45,000 and $50,000. So this will start to become a consideration for us as we move forward with our farm.
00:02:31
Speaker
Okay. What's some of the produce that you grow on your farm? So we grow tomatoes, peppers, lots of lettuces and other greens. We do a lot of bagged lettuces. That's what we're really known for at the farmer's market. We do a number of root crops, beets.
00:02:51
Speaker
carrots, turnips, that sort of thing. A lot of squashes and- Cucumbers. Cucumbers. So yeah, we're every year, I mean, that was our last year was our first year. So we definitely are expanding that this year. We're going to add some new varieties of those crops and then also some actual new vegetables, including things like corn and some different stuff.
00:03:18
Speaker
Great.
FSMA Regulations on Produce Handling
00:03:19
Speaker
So there are commodities that the FDA considers rarely consumed raw. So it sounds like you have a mix of both products that would be eaten fresh without being cooked and products that would be considered rarely consumed raw. And some of those that you stated would be your beets, any of your hard squashes, sweet corn, if you're getting into sweet corn. So those are products that aren't covered under the physical produce safety rule. If they're
00:03:47
Speaker
going to be something that people are going to cook before they eat them. So it's important to know if your product is one of the products on the rarely consumed raw list, because under the FISMA produce safety rule, you want to know how you're handling or commingling those products that are covered under the FISMA produce safety rule, or those that aren't covered and are on that rarely consumed raw list.
00:04:14
Speaker
Some important things to think about in that is how you grow those crops. So if you're growing and handling those crops in the same way, it might not be as important. But if you're not using the same standards or complying with the physical safety rule to grow some of your crops that are on the rarely consumed raw list, it'd be important not to co-mingle or kind of share space with those different products.
00:04:40
Speaker
So the, the, um, FISMA covers produce that is eaten raw. Yeah. So things that are rarely eaten raw are actually not considered by FISMA that there's not a compliance for those, those that produce. Correct. Things would be like asparagus that are widely grown, um, potatoes. I said sweet corn already, but sweet corn's on there.
00:05:07
Speaker
Any dry beans are on that list. Also, of course, your beets. We talked about sugar beets and red beets would be on there. So those are things like say you had asparagus on your farm and also tomatoes. If you're not growing them in the same manner, you wouldn't want to co-mingle those products or handle them differently. Do those products count in your $25,000 sales limit? Yes.
00:05:36
Speaker
So that sales number, the $25,000 number to fall under the FISMA Produce Safety Rule is considered any produce sales. So those things are still produce, so they are considered in that number.
FSMA Exemptions and Limits
00:05:51
Speaker
Is any of your produce intended for commercial processing that adequately reduces pathogens?
00:06:00
Speaker
Does, do you sell any of your product to, to a product? I feel like I'm on a game show. Take no for 2000. I don't know what that question means. Yeah. So let me ask it. So this is, I think taken right from the FDA language. I guess the easiest way to go would just be like, do you sell at all to a processor? So someone who's going to.
00:06:26
Speaker
like canned tomatoes or make juice or anything like that. Currently, we do not sell any of our produce to a commercial processor. Everything is sold at farmers markets or at local grocers or restaurants. Okay. If you do sell to a commercial processor that involves a kill step, there is an exemption that you may be eligible for through the physical produce safety rule.
00:06:54
Speaker
All right. Does your farm on average have less than 500,000 annual food sales? And like I said, one of the kind of nuances there is the food sales. So when they're talking food sales in FSMA, they're talking actually any food. So this would be the sale of your livestock. If you were growing row crops like corn or soybean, milk, jams, jellies, anything like that, instead of just produce. Yes, we are.
00:07:23
Speaker
Well, under the $500,000 limit last year, this year, probably for as long as I can count forward. I don't know that we'll ever cross that threshold given the size and scope and really where we want to be as farmers. We don't necessarily want to be that big, but we want to do what we do really well. Great. So who do you sell your produce to?
00:07:53
Speaker
So currently we sell our produce to a local food club, which is our version of a CSA. And then we also do the local farmer's market once a week. We have a organic grocery store that we supply and we hope to expand that this year with additional CSA members as well as some additional restaurants and grocers.
00:08:19
Speaker
Okay, so a qualified end user is the person who's going to consume the food or it can be a restaurant or retail establishment within 275 miles of the farm or within the same state. So it sounds like all of your customers are going to be considered.
Guidance for FSMA Compliance
00:08:39
Speaker
qualified end users, which means that because a hundred percent of your sales or at least over 50% of your sales is going to what they consider a qualified end user, you are eligible for what they consider a qualified exemption, which means you need to meet some standards set by the rule, but you wouldn't necessarily receive a full inspection. A couple of those standards are you need to display your full business name and address at the point of sale.
00:09:08
Speaker
So it could be at your farmer's market on a sign or something along those during your sales to like restaurants or retail establishments. It could be on a bill or something in that manner. And then the other requirement is that you keep records that prove your qualified exemption status, which basically outlines your sales and who those sales are directed to.
00:09:34
Speaker
Okay. That actually is really helpful because I think in previous conversations about FISMA, I would listen to one aspect of the rule and think, okay, we have to comply and then hear another aspect and think, okay, no, we're not. So to hear it all together and then also to have all the terms explained is really helpful too. So understanding that
00:09:57
Speaker
We do technically fall under FISMA but we have this qualified exemption and then in the future if our market channels were to change, then our status may also change so we need to keep that in mind.
00:10:12
Speaker
Yeah. So understanding now that we have a qualified exemption, but we, we really still want to set up the way that we grow and harvest and handle our produce, um, to be in compliance with, uh, FISMA from a produce safety standpoint, where would we go to find, um, those guidelines, those recommendations, um, in order to make sure that we are complying? Yeah. So there's a couple great places to start. I would say.
00:10:42
Speaker
One of the first things I would do would be connect to your local produce safety technician. In Michigan, there are six of us located throughout the state regionally. And we can always send you resources, but we can also help you sign up for the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Rule course. And that's really a one day course that's going to explain a lot of the nitty gritty of the rule and the requirements of the rule. So it's a good spot.
00:11:11
Speaker
to start off if you're not familiar with FISMA and kind of want to direct your operation in that direction, but really connecting with your produce safety technician and going through maybe a risk assessment with them of your operation would be a great way, a good step forward to moving into compliance with FISMA.
Confidentiality and Support from Safety Technicians
00:11:31
Speaker
So something that me and other farmers get concerned with when you say, let's have a produce safety technician on my farm and have them do a risk assessment is a fear that if they find something that I'm doing wrong, that they're going to shut me down or so. So how do you lay that fear that, you know, if I have somebody here on my farm and I'm not in compliance, that it's not going to inhibit my ability to continue functioning.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah, so as per safety technicians, everything we do with a grower is confidential and one on one with the grower. We're not reporting any practices to anyone. If we see something that isn't in compliance with FISMO or needs some changing, we're going to work one on one with you to find options or make changes to your operation. Yeah.
00:12:23
Speaker
Yep, we're completely non regulatory and that's honestly why we're housed at conservation district so we can kind of have that separation from the regulatory leg of the farm produce safety team.
00:12:36
Speaker
Great. That's a good distinction to know. You don't give out tickets. Yeah, exactly. That's great. Okay, that helps a lot. Links or definitions to anything referenced in this episode are provided in our show notes, which can be accessed on the website at canr.msu.edu slash agri-food underscore safety. Thank you to everyone for listening. And don't forget to tune in next month for another episode of our Produce Bites podcast.