Late last week, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) sent out a Produce Safety Rule Grower Questionnaire to producers throughout the state in order to learn more about growers’ operations and, ultimately, determine their availability for on-farm inspections, which are required under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule. CDFA will be conducting on-farm inspections on behalf of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) starting April 2019.
All almond growers should fill out this short questionnaire, answering each question accurately, and return the form to CDFA by Friday, March 15.
If a grower is utilizing the Commercial Processing Exemption, which is available under the Produce Safety Rule, then they should indicate their use of that exemption at the bottom of the questionnaire in the section where it asks producers to list all commodities that will receive commercial processing. Example language may read, ““[FARM Name], which grows almonds, is utilizing the Commercial Processing Exemption.”
In addition, those using the Commercial Processing Exemption are highly advised to prepare a one-page Commercial Processing Exemption plan summary document, as shown on page 9 of the Almond Board’s FSMA Produce Safety Toolkit for Almond Growers. This plan summary is a good reference document for growers to have should an inspector call or show up without notice to perform an inspection.
An overview of how to comply with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, as well as how to use the Commercial Processing Exemption, can be found in the FSMA Produce Safety Toolkit for Almond Growers. For your reference, CDFA’s grower questionnaire is also available. Again, all growers should complete the questionnaire and return it to CDFA no later than Friday, March 15.
Please do not hesitate to call or email with questions: contact Tim Birmingham, director of Quality Assurance and Industry Services at the Almond Board, at tbirmingham@almondboard.com or (209) 343-3222.
