FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER PAR-16-137 OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD, AND FORESTRY PROJECT SUMMARY The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry proposes to establish a State Produce Safety Program to encourage the safe production of fresh fruits and vegetables and to promote compliance with the requirements of FDA's Regulation ?Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption? (commonly referred to as the Produce Safety Rule). In order to accomplish this goal, we plan to: assess our produce landscape, with a focus upon produce covered under the Produce Rule and to determine the necessary size and scope of our Produce Safety Program; establish a process to develop and maintain a produce farm inventory; provide resources for, and invest in, the program's infrastructure; develop specific mechanisms to coordinate with other regulatory agencies for produce safety activities; formulate a multi-year plan to implement the produce safety system; develop a performance measurement system using analytical processes including quantitative and qualitative data; evaluate the need for new produce legislative or regulatory authority; develop and provide education, outreach, and technical assistance to farming operations and jurisdictional produce safety regulators; and design and implement a compliance program for applicable produce safety regulations at the jurisdictional level. The accomplishment of this goal will advance efforts for a nationally integrated food safety system by having the state produce safety program align with the FDA produce safety program. The funds that are made available through this cooperative agreement will allow our agency to implement multi-year, strategic plans to ensure continuous improvement and to demonstrate that we are moving towards the goals of improved produce safety and high rates of compliance with the Produce Safety Rule. Without the funds being made available through this funding opportunity our agency would be unable to undertake any part of attaining this goal.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY PAR-16-137 OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD, AND FORESTRY PROJECT NARRATIVE The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry will be able to reduce the potential threat to public health from ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables by developing, implementing and maintaining an Oklahoma Produce Safety Program that is in alignment with the FDA Regulation ?Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption?, otherwise known as the Produce Safety Rule. This program will provide outreach to growers of ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables to educate them and provide guidance concerning food safety issues associated with the growing of ready-to-eat produce and the regulatory requirements of the Produce Safety Rule. This combination of outreach and regulatory oversight should significantly reduce the risk of foodborne illness associated with the consumption of ready-to-eat produce.
