With new federal produce safety guidelines slated to go into effect as soon as 2018 for some of the state’s largest farms, there are questions among Maine’s food growers about how and if these regulations will impact their farms.
Clearing up some of the confusion surrounding the Food Safety Modernization Act is the aim of an informational program being held Thursday night in Waldoboro. The free program is being held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Knox-Lincoln Cooperative Extension Office, sponsored by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District.
The Food Safety Modernization Act was passed as legislation in 2011 with the goal of reducing the risk of food contamination outbreaks. While the legislation called for food growers to follow farming practices that would lessen this risk of contamination, it took time after the legislation was passed to devise specific protocols that growers have to follow, according to Dr. David Handley, a vegetable and small fruit specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
The final rules weren’t completed until this past fall, so confusion has manifested around what the impact and the scope of the law will mean for farms here in Maine.
“I’ve had multiple questions about, ‘What is the Food Safety Modernization Act going to mean to me as a farmer?’” Mark Hutchinson, an educator with Cooperative Extension in Knox County.
Handley, who is leading the program Thursday, said the majority of farms here in Maine will most likely be exempt from the new rules, since the legislation primarily targets large produce growers who are selling produce across many state lines.
“A lot of Maine farms, in fact most of Maine farms, who sell produce are probably going to find themselves at least partially exempt from these laws,” Handley said.
The new rules are broken down in five major areas that set guidelines for worker health and hygiene, soil amendment practices, dealing with wild and domestic animals that might walk through produce fields, agricultural water usage and post harvest handling.
In terms of which farms fall under these rules and when they must come into compliance, the law establishes three categories, Handley said. By Jan. 1, 2018, farm’s whose annual total sales are greater than $500,000 must come into compliance with the new federal standards; by 2019, farm’s whose total sales are between $250,000 and $500,000 must come into compliance; and by 2020, farm’s whose total sales fall in the range of $25,000 to $250,000 must come into compliance.
However, the Food Safety Modernization Act includes a set of qualified exemptions, meaning that even if a farm fell into the above categories, they could be exempt from the rules.
The exemptions include farms who during the previous three year period sold more than half of their annual value of food directly to people who are going to use it. This would include farms who sold primarily through farm stands, farmers markets and community supported agriculture programs. This exemption would also include selling to local restaurants, Handley said.
The second exemption is for growers who sell primarily in their state and not more than 275 miles from their farm.
In Maine, after these exemptions, what this leaves are the state’s largest produce growers, Handley said.
However, Handley urges that any growers within the state familiarize themselves with these guidelines, because it will fall on individual farms to provide documentation to inspectors proving that they fall under a qualified exemption. And even if the farms are exempt, the guidelines set forth in the Food Safety Modernization act indicate what the Federal Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture are concerned about in terms of growing practices, Handley said.
“That’s why we’re trying to get a lot of training done this year and let farmers know that this is what you need a heads up about, and to start looking for these records if they feel they’re going to be exempt,” Handley said. “The other things we’re pushing as [Cooperative Extension] is that you might want to sit in on these trainings because you might learn something that you haven’t thought about before.”
For the farms that will have to come into compliance with the new rules, a designated member of the business will have to attend a training session, gaining a certificate and then become the “trainer” for their farm.
Thursday’s event is not a training session, rather just an informational meeting on what the new rules entail and who will be affected. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension is holding a training session in Portland April 11 and 12.
With questions swirling about the news rules and some months before they go into effect, it’s expected that more events similar to Thursday’s program will be held.
“This is not the first talk, and this won’t be the last talk,” Hutchinson said.