Foodborne illness occurs when a person gets sick after consuming a food contaminated with pathogens, or harmful microbes. Produce and other specialty crops may be especially susceptible to contamination because of how they are grown, processed, sold, and consumed. According to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimations, the annual cost of all foodborne illnesses attributable to produce is $2.5 billion. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA; P.L. 111-353) expanded FDA’s food safety oversight authorities, including those related to produce and other specialty crops. Congress provided FDA with authority to establish first-time food safety requirements for farms producing fruits and vegetables, and to issue additional requirements for participants across the food supply chain, among other authorities. FDA issues guidance and regulations based on emerging science. The Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule, the Produce Safety Rule, the Pre-harvest Agricultural Water Rule, and the Food Traceability Rule are some FDA regulations that may generally apply to the specialty crop industry. Additionally, retailers may require producers to verify their adherence to food safety best practices by completing certain food safety certifications. Producers may find federal and state food safety laws, FDA regulations, and buyer-required certifications challenging to understand or implement across different specialty crop production systems. For instance, farms, packinghouses, food manufacturing facilities, and others along the supply chain may have differing food safety considerations depending on their operation size, commodities, production systems, and regional practices. In addition, scientific understanding of and associated best practices for food safety continue to evolve. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers two programs that provide funding and technical assistance to help specialty crop producers implement food safety laws and regulations and obtain certifications: the Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP) and the Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops Program (FSCSC). FSOP and the FSCSC program have provided specialty crop producers with opportunities for food safety technical assistance through different pathways. Since 2015, Congress has provided discretionary funding to FSOP for educational programs and initiatives that have outreach and technical assistance components for eligible categories of producers as identified by Congress. More recently, the FSCSC program has temporarily provided subsidies for specialty crop producers to attend FSOP trainings, pay for food safety certifications, subsidize water testing analyses, and hire food safety consultants. Congress authorized the FSOP competitive grant program under FSMA. Congress originally defined the target audiences for FSOP competitive grants as “small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, and/or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers.” In the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-334), Congress expanded the target audiences to include military veteran farmers and ranchers. Since FY2015, Congress has appropriated funds for competitive grant projects, including pilot projects as well as multistate education and training, community outreach, collaborative education and training, and grant writing skills projects. Authorization of appropriations for the program is $10 million annually through FY2026, and Congress has provided that amount annually since FY2021. In FY2022, USDA administratively established the FSCSC program. The Secretary of Agriculture announced that the program would help offset costs for specialty crop producers to comply with regulatory and market-driven food safety certification requirements and would provide support to small and very small specialty crop producers. The 2022 funding announcement included $200 million available for subsidizing eligible specialty crop producers’ food safety certifications issued between 2022 and the end of 2023. In June 2024, USDA announced the availability of $19 million for this program for certification expenses incurred in calendar years 2024 and 2025. Per USASpending.gov, USDA obligated $683,480 from 2022 through July 31, 2025. Congress may consider the effectiveness of FSOP and the FSCSC program in providing technical assistance to specialty crop producers. Congress also may consider whether additional statutory language is needed to authorize or otherwise influence future program activities. For example, Congress may consider whether to authorize the FSCSC program or allow it to remain as a temporary program and whether or not to direct USDA to continue providing CCC funding. Congress may also consider the funding level for FSOP in future fiscal years and whether to authorize changes to the program.
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