June 30, 2021
Produce Safety Alliance Listserv Members,
With historically high temperatures in many areas across the United States, we hope this e-mail finds you staying cool and enjoying some frozen treats!
This month’s newsletter contains lots of great information including our upcoming Spanish-language PSA Trainer Refresher Series, a new pre-requisite for attending the PSA Train-the-Trainer Course, a job opportunity within the PSA team, new and updated educational resources, June TTT course graduates, and FDA traceability initiatives.
Take care and stay cool!
The PSA Team
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PSA Trainers and Lead Trainers, are you preparing to offer Remote PSA Grower Training courses in Spanish? If so, join us for a series of Spanish-language PSA Train-the-Trainer refreshers every Wednesday in July and August at 2:00PM Eastern time. Each week we will devote an office hour to one module with tips for teaching remotely. We’ll discuss the critical concepts from that module and strategies we use to increase participant engagement. There will be time for questions and discussion. The basic presentation each week will be recorded and available on the PSA website for later viewing, but we will not be recording the discussion so that trainers can ask their questions freely. As always, you can contact your PSA Spanish-Language Extension Associate at any time with your specific questions about delivering the PSA Grower Training Course in Spanish. The meeting is free to attend and registration is required.
Note: Participation in this series will not result in receiving the PSA/AFDO Certificate of Course Completion for the PSA Train-the-Trainer Course. We will review the content at a high level, and provide any pertinent updates and teaching tips during each session. Non-PSA Trainers and Lead Trainers are welcome to attend, though as previously stated, this series will not cover the PSA Train-the-Trainer content in detail. The same series was delivered in 2020 in English. You can find the recorded presentations here.
Schedule:
All meetings will be at 2:00 PM ET
- July 7 – Module 1: Introduction to Produce Safety
- July 14 – Module 2: Worker Health, Hygiene, and Training
- July 21 – Module 3: Soil Amendments
- July 28 – Module 4: Wildlife, Domesticated Animals, and Land Use
- August 4 – Module 5-1: Agricultural Water – Production Water
- August 11 – Module 5-2: Agricultural Water – Postharvest Water
- August 18 – Module 6: Postharvest handling and Sanitation
- August 25 – Module 7: How to Develop a Farm Food Safety Plan
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Instructores e instructores líderes de la Alianza (PSA), ¿se están preparando para ofrecer cursos de capacitación para productores de Alianza (PSA) a distancia? Si es así, acompáñenos en esta serie de seminarios en español para el repaso del curso Capacitando al instructor los miércoles de julio y agosto de dos a las tres de la tarde hora del Este de los EE. UU. Cada miércoles repasaremos un módulo con consejos para presentar a distancia. Discutiremos los conceptos críticos de ese módulo y las estrategias que usamos para fomentar la atención y participación de los participantes. Habrá tiempo para preguntas y discusión. La presentación de cada semana estará grabada y disponible en el sitio web de la Alianza (PSA) para su posterior visualización, pero no grabaremos la discusión para que los instructores puedan hacer sus preguntas libremente. Como siempre, puede comunicarse con uno de nuestros asociados de Extensión de la Alianza-PSA en cualquier momento si tienen preguntas específicas sobre cómo impartir el curso de Capacitación para productores de la Alianza PSA. La serie de seminarios es gratuita y es necesario registrarse antes de cada serie para participar.
Importante nota aclaratoria: Asistir a esta sesión de repaso o ver sus grabaciones no cuenta como asistencia al curso de Capacitación para productores o instructores de la Alianza (PSA), ni obtendrá una constancia de finalización de PSA/AFDO. Revisaremos el contenido del currículo a un alto nivel, proporcionaremos actualizaciones recientes y consejos para la impartición a distancia de cada módulo durante cada serie de repaso. Los participantes que no son instructores o instructores líderes de la Alianza (PSA) son bienvenidos; sin embargo, como se indicó anteriormente, esta serie no cubrirá en detalle el contenido de curso Capacitando al instructor de la Alianza (PSA).
Horario:
Todas las reuniones se llevarán a cabo a las 2:00 PM Hora del Este
- 7 julio – Módulo 1: Introducción a la inocuidad de los productos agrícolas frescos
- 14 julio – Módulo 2: Salud, higiene y capacitación de los trabajadores
- 21 julio – Módulo 3: Mejoradores de suelo
- 28 julio – Módulo 4: Fauna Silvestre, animales domésticos y uso del suelo
- 4 agosto – Módulo 5-1: Agua de uso agrícola – Agua para la producción
- 11agosto – Módulo 5-2: Agua de uso agrícola – Agua de uso en la postcosecha
- 18 agosto – Módulo 6: Manejo postcosecha y saneamiento
- 25 agosto – Módulo 7: Cómo desarrollar un plan de inocuidad de los alimentos para la huerta
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New Pre-Requisite Requirement to Attend the
PSA Train-the-Trainer Course
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Effective October 1, 2021, all individuals interested in enrolling in a PSA Train-the-Trainer (TTT) Course must have attended at least one registered PSA Grower Training (GT) Course. Successfully completing an in-person, online, or remote PSA Grower Training Course meets this requirement. During the PSA TTT, Trainers-of-Trainers (ToTs) emphasize how to teach the PSA GT Course curriculum, effectively engage participants, and navigate training challenges to ensure a high-quality training, so there is an expectation that attendees already know the curriculum content. PSA team experience, as well as that of other PSA ToTs, indicates that those who have not attended a PSA GT Course prior to attending a PSA TTT Course are not as familiar with the content as they need to be and this may negatively impact their experience in the PSA TTT Course.
Several steps are being taken to ensure that all participants are aware of the prerequisite requirement. This PSA TTT Course prerequisite must be included in advertising materials for the course. In addition, participants must check a box on the PSA Trainer Application to confirm that they have attended a PSA GT Course. Organizers of PSA TTT Courses will be required to submit a class roster to PSA personnel five working days prior to conducting a PSA TTT Course so that prior attendance at a PSA GT Course can be confirmed for all registered participants. Participants that have not attended a PSA GT Course prior to the PSA TTT Course will not be eligible for a certificate of completion and will not be PSA Trainers, therefore it is critical that all participants are aware of this pre-requisite requirement prior to registering for the course.
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Join Our Team!
Northwest Regional Extension Associate Position
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We are currently accepting applications for a PSA Northwest Regional Extension Associate. As a key member of the PSA team, the Northwest (NW) Regional Extension Associate (REA) will be responsible for planning, organizing, instructing, and evaluating PSA training programs for produce growers, extension educators, and regulatory personnel in their region. The NW REA will facilitate and provide leadership for in-person meetings , conference calls and webinars, and be directly involved in training other individuals to use the developed curriculum; provide continual feedback to PSA leadership through preparation of regional impact reports, training evaluations, and outreach activities; and participate in weekly PSA team calls. The NW REA must be willing to travel regionally and nationally a significant amount of time (~50%) pending pandemic status, including non-traditional and weekend work hours. This position will be located in the Northwest U.S. with exact location being flexible within the 15 states and territories in the region. Please visit the position description for additional details.
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FDA Food Traceability Challenge |
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On May 18, 2021, FDA launched the Era of Smarter Food Safety Low- or No-Cost Tech-enabled Traceability Challenge which asks stakeholders, including technology providers, entrepreneurs, and innovators to develop traceability tools that can be implemented in a scalable, cost-effective way for food operations of all sizes. The submission window closes on July 30, 2021 at 5 PM ET. For more information, visit the FDA website.
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June PSA Train-the-Trainer Courses |
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Earlier this month, we held two remote PSA Train-the-Trainer Courses. The first course had 16 participants from GA, VA, CA, OK, WI, IL, AK, MN, MS, NC, TX, NE, MA, MD, NJ. The second course had 16 new PSA Trainers from WA, CA, WV, NC, MA, HI, AK, KS, and India. Congratulations to our new cadre of PSA Trainers!
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New & Updated Educational Materials |
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This is a supplemental slide set that can be presented after PSA Grower Training Curriculum V 1.2: Module 1, Slide 5. Trainers may use this opportunity to define Farm and Facility. This information may be important for specific farm sectors, such as with large-scale apple or leafy-greens growers. This information is not part of the standardized curriculum because guidance is not enforceable and is subject to change at any time. Until FDA indicates otherwise, however, the information is important for some growers to know.
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This resource includes optional questions in PowerPoint format for engaging audiences during the PSA Grower Training, for in-person and remote courses. Though this resource has been available since July 2020, recent updates were made to adapt the PowerPoint slides for remote delivery through the addition of slide layouts which better facilitate the use of the annotate feature in Zoom. There are suggestions in the resource for question placement to facilitate their use within the course.
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