ALEI Legal Specialists Megan Todd, University of Maryland Baltimore Carey Law, and Nicole Cook, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, continued driving efforts with the Maryland Food Safety Network (MFSN) and the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) to provide Produce Safety Rule (PSR) trainings to help Maryland’s farmers learn about best practices and how to comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act.
The PSR requires all farms subject to the PSR to have at least one supervisor or responsible party attend a grower training. To receive this certificate, individuals must attend the entire training and submit the appropriate paperwork to the trainer at the end of the course. The team also emphasizes the state-based PSR registration requirement for all growers, regardless of a farm business’ status under the PSR (covered, exempt, or qualified exempt), and helps the attendees understand the farm registration process and how to access additional free services to ensure their practices align with best practices.
For the past eight years, ALEI has assisted farmers in Maryland and the DMV area have an affordable option to attend a PSR Grower Training every winter. This season we continued to ensure the trainings were accessible to all growers despite reduced funding for outreach and education efforts. Todd, who completed the PSA Train-the-Trainer course in August 2021, and is also a PSA-approved Lead Trainer, led the organization of all the food safety workshops for the 2023-2024 winter season.
Thanks to Shauna Henley & Nicole Cook for bringing amazing cleaning and worker training supplies from their Produce TRAINer project as giveaways for the attendees – it was an unexpected and fun addition to the workshops! Between January and February 2026, ALEI and the MFSN hosted three food safety workshops:
- January 24 – In-Person PSR Grower Training in coordination with the Future Harvest Conference in SIlver Spring, MD
- Feb. 14 – In-Person PSR Grower Training at Greenway Farms in Gaithersburg, MD
- March 11-12 – Remote Delivery PSR Grower Training
This year, the MFSN trained 35 individuals, all of whom will receive a Certificate of Completion that satisfies the training requirements under FSMA. The MFSN is also working with the Food & Drug Administration team to develop a workshop curriculum to host an Agricultural Water Assessment at the Wye Research Farm in Queenstown, MD in Spring 2026.
Over the summer, the MFSN team will come together for its annual planning meeting to review attendee evaluations, feedback and comments to help direct efforts for 2027 food safety education. Training and resource development covering the new FSMA Traceability Rule (approaching compliance date in July 2028) are already on the agenda.
A heartfelt thanks to all the trainers in the MFSN who continue to make the annual food safety trainings a success, and to new partners who bring in new ideas and opportunities!
Carol Allen – UMCP
Shauna Henley – UMD Extension
Nicole Cook – UMES
Kelly Nichols – UMD Extension
Molly Gillingham – MDA
Allison Luettel – MDA
Special Consultants & New Partners for 2024:
Donna Clements – Produce Safety Alliance
Billy McCarthy – National Young Farmers Union
Shirley MicCallef – University of Maryland College Park, Center for Food Safety and Security Systems (CFS3)
Elshan Bal – Greenway Farms
Grace Leatherman & the Future Harvest Team
Anyone with questions about attending a food safety training in the future may contact Megan Todd – motodd @ law.umaryland.edu.
Do you have a group interested in learning more about farm food safety topics? Let us know using our inquiry form! https://lnkd.in/e_5DAPBj
Funding for this series of work described in this post is supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award U2FFD007444. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by FDA/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
