Making Sense of Food Safety Challenges for Local Growers

Making Sense of Food Safety Challenges for Local Growers

In today’s world, consumers value fresh, nutritious locally grown produce. PMA, PrimusLabs.com and Sysco are pleased to invite you to a one day basic training program to explore the challenges to implementing a food safety plan and provide solutions to help you meet the food safety requirements for restaurant and retail outlets and most importantly for yourselves.

Space is limited to the first 40 participants. Registration fee of $50 includes the education program and a networking lunch.

11:15 – 11:45 a.m. Food Safety Evolution PMA will provide a brief overview of food safety history, where we are currently, as well as the challenges faced and responsibilities involved in developing a food safety culture.

11:45 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Sysco’s Food Safety Stance Sysco will provide an overview of the importance of food safety to the company as well as a summary of its program objectives for local growers.

A Chef will also offer his take on the importance of steady supply, quality & food safety, and the challenges of sourcing local.

12:30 – 1:00 p.m. Working Lunch: Building Your Customized Food Safety Program Risk management, the GAP manual and the role of food safety audits will be clarified. PrimusLab.com will provide an overview of their programs, services and website.

1:00 – 1:30 pm Building Your Customized Food Safety Program PrimusLab.com will compare different audit categories, covering everything from ranchers and harvesters, to packing houses and coolers. An introduction to Sysco’s pre-audit assessment form will follow.

1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Grower Interview/Questions Let the experts lead you, step-by-step, through the audit process, in this hands-on how-to session. Any remaining questions will be answered directly.

2:45 – 3:30 p.m. The Audit 101: Learning the Basics A panel of third party auditors will discuss the different elements that make up a food safety audit, what they look for, what kind of interaction they expect and how you handle California.

3:30 – 3:45 p.m. Taking the Next Step Towards Food Safety PMA will outline next steps for implementing your customized food safety plans, as well as introduce a number of resources, including certification bodies and vendors you can use.