Produce Safety Handbook for Buyers

What is the goal of this site?

The goal of this site is to summarize the produce food safety landscape in the northeastern and north central US, helping buyers to understand and navigate each state’s produce safety audit and inspection information. This is needed because the produce safety landscape can be confusing; there are a variety of produce safety standards and verification systems that can look similar in practice, yet are different in application for produce operations. As a result, market access requirements may not match grower obligations and documentation after being found in compliance following a FSMA Produce Safety Rule inspection, or from succeeding to meet an audit’s acceptance criteria. To help buyers navigate these complications, this website provides farm production statistics, state inspection and audit information in simple charts and tables, all with an eye to improving produce safety knowledge, communication, and alignment among buyers and producers.

How to use this site?

The interactive map allows users to drill down at the state level to learn more about the produce production landscape, farm size, and scale within each state. Here the user will also find a detailed review of what is required for audits and inspections in the state along with corresponding program contact information. A user can also look at this regional content more broadly by reviewing multi-state information in a side-by-side display. Either approach also cross-links to a plain language overview of the Produce Safety Rule for easy access to relevant rule requirements.