Our workshops this year covered some of the most popular topics for Ag right now, Water, FSMA, and ACP/HLB. Each workshop was well attended, showing the importance for industry members to have more knowledge on these topics. All Things Water The first workshop of the day focused on critical water issues where CCM is actively [...]
The U.S. FDA’s Produce Safety Rule requires that for each farm, “At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standard curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.” The deadline for compliance is January 2018. The following [...]
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., in an address to State Agricultural Commissioners, outlined a number of immediate next steps in a comprehensive approach to ensuring successful implementation of the Produce Safety Rule established by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Speaking in New Orleans at the annual conference of the National Association of State [...]
The FDA has released a Compliance Guide for Small Businesses under FSMA Produce Safety Rule. Small Entity Compliance Guides (SECGs) are designed to help small businesses meet federal standards. They are among the resources that the FDA is providing to support compliance with the new FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) standards. The FDA Small [...]
The U.S. FDA’s Produce Safety rule requires that for each farm, “At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standard curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.” The date for complying with this rule is Jan. [...]
A few weeks ago CCM wrote a letter to Whole Foods regarding their Responsibly Grown program expressing concerns that California citrus would never qualify or be merchandised as “responsibly grown,” creating a huge disservice to the industry. The letter triggered a phone call and invitation from their produce and sustainability team leaders to meet with CCM [...]
Last Friday the Vice President of Perishables at Whole Foods received a letter from CCM President Joel Nelsen seeking a discussion to clarify why and how their Responsibly Grown program is vague and misleading. This marketing program seeks to label product on store shelves as Responsibly Grown predicated on their subjective determination of crop protection [...]
CCM’s legal advisors went through the final Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Standards for Produce Safety and have prepared a food safety manual for citrus growers to aid CCM grower members in complying with the Federal regulations. The Standards for Produce (Citrus Grower) Safety Manual includes the compliance dates, explains who is subject to the [...]
On Tuesday, CCM was notified that the dates for packinghouses to comply with Preventive Controls Rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) will be extended. The dates were extended to bring the Preventive Controls Rule in sync with the Produce Safety Rule. Additionally, in announcing the extension FDA acknowledged that it had heard and [...]
As the FDA regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) are being implemented discrepancies and unintended consequences continue to create problems for growers and handlers. CCM is one of twenty organizations that have signed onto a letter to FDA calling attention to conflicting standards and requesting resolution, specifically, conflicting standards for similar facilities subject [...]