Purdue University is pleased to offer Indiana fruit and vegetable farmers a farm walk-through with a private food safety consultant. This opportunity is open to any farm that sells fresh produce and has attended a produce safety educational program. A consultant paid by Purdue will visit your farm to walk through and address your specific farm and packinghouse food safety questions. Growers who participated in the consulting program in 2015 reported it was very helpful. Funds for the consulting come from a grant from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture through the USDA Specialty Crops Block Grant Program.
The grant also includes funds for audit cost-sharing for Indiana fruit and vegetable growers who receive passing scores on their third party food safety audits. The audit cost-share program will reimburse at least 40% of the cost of a third party food safety audit, up to a maximum reimbursement of $750 per farm.
To apply for consulting or audit cost-share, fill out and return the application by May 1, 2016. Applications may be downloaded from ag.purdue.edu/hla/foodsafety/Documents/PurdueFoodSafetyCostshareConsultApp2016.pdf, or applicants may fill out the online form at tinyurl.com/fs-cost-share-2016.
In addition to these programs, Purdue food safety Extension experts Amanda Deering and Scott Monroe are available to conduct mock-audits for produce farms on request. Contact Scott at (812) 886-0198 or Amanda at (765) 494-0512.
For more information contact Liz Maynard at (219) 548-3674 or emaynard@purdue.edu.