Food safety has come into the spotlight in recent years, Michigan Food & Farming Systems (MIFFS) has been focused on educating farmers, especially those with small-scale and diversified operations, on how food safety updates and regulations affect them and how they can implement food safety plans on their own farms. With more retail and wholesale buyers now requiring food safety certification, which means that a grower selling to that buyer must complete a food safety audit, commonly known as a GAP (Good Agriculture Practices) audit, many growers are feeling overwhelmed. This process requires a grower’s time to implement the changes and keep records showing that food safety practices are maintained, plus the cost of the inspection to be GAP certified. It can be a frightening and intimidating topic, but we strive to break it down into more manageable bites with our workshops over the years. We are continue building a database of food safety practices.
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MIFFS has hosted on-farm food safety workshops and mock audits to give farmers a taste of what the process is really like and what frequent pitfalls are, especially for farms raising many different varieties of fruits and vegetables.
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MIFFS continues to focus on food safety strategies for small scale farming operations. Teaming with Michigan State University, Center For Regional Food Systems (CRFS), MIFFS supported the UP Food Exchange’s Group GAP Pilot program. We work with a statewide team to develop awareness around Group GAP and to support pilot efforts. Here are a few examples of tools developed during the 2014-2015 pilot.
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Upper Peninsula Food Exchange (UPFE) Food Safety Manual.pdf
Upper Peninsula Food Exchange (UPFE) Quality Manual for Growers.pdf
Group GAP Farmer Promotional Flyer.pdf
Group GAP Michigan Upper Peninsula.pdf
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