Fruit, Vegetable Safety Program Set for SE Ohio April 12
2/7/2012
Grape expectations: Learn what it takes to pick, pack and sell safe produce April 12.
CHESTERHILL,
Ohio -- Ohio State University’s Fruit and Vegetable Safety Team, in conjunction
with the group Rural Action, will hold a Produce Safety Education Program for
farmers from 1-4 p.m. on April 12 at the Marion Community Center, 7474 College
St., in Chesterhill in southeast Ohio.
Good Agricultural Practices, or GAPS,
for fruit and vegetable production are the focus.
“The Food
and Drug Administration will be releasing draft standards for safe production
of fruits and vegetables later this year,” said the team’s Ashley Kulhanek. “So
it’s a good time to learn about GAPS.”
Participants
will receive a resource workbook, paper handouts and certificate of
participation.
The program will be presented in a conversational format without
technology out of respect for the Amish community but is open to the
public. Expect a helpful but less formal presentation on GAPS, Kulhanek said.
Attendees won’t actually become “certified in GAPS” by taking the course, Kulhanek added.
That certification comes only through a farm audit by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture or a third-party company.
“The
program can help prepare you for an audit,” she said, “but find out if your
customers are asking for education in GAPs or if they actually want an audit
certificate, or both.”
Also, the
program will double as the required yearly attendance in a comprehensive GAPS
class for anyone participating in the Ohio Produce Marketing Agreement.
Contact Rural
Action’s Tom Redfern, 740-767-4938, tomr@ruralaction.org, to reserve a spot in the program.
Registration
is $25 per person, paid at the door by cash or check, with checks made out to
“OSP.”
The
registration cost is lower than it was for similar programs last year, Kulhanek
said, thanks to a grant from the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Similar
programs will be offered in Homerville in Medina County on Feb. 20, in Burton
in Geauga County on March 30, and in Wooster in Wayne County on April 27.
For more
information, call 330-202-3555, ext. 2918.
Photo credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Writers
Ashley Kulhanek
kulhanek.5@osu.edu
330-202-3555, ext. 2918
Writer:
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