Food Protection Trends - November/December 2019 - 541

decisions. For example, challenges have been noted
in grower's compliance with Subpart L (equipment,
buildings, tools, and addressing harborage sites) and
recordkeeping requirements. Disseminating training
and outreach to international audiences remains a
priority for FDA, including the development of PSA
Trainers and Lead Trainers. Several policy decisions
are still in deliberation by FDA including Subpart E
(agricultural water), Subpart F (biological soil amendments of animal origin), farm definitions, and written
assurances for processing activities. In addition, FDA
is continuing to refine the Produce Safety Rule and
Fresh Cut Produce draft guidance's released based
on stakeholder feedback.
2.

Sprout Safety Alliance Update - Dr. Kaiping Deng.
Over 90 sprout operations have been trained, including 138 individuals, 61 federal regulators (1 international), and 3 supermarket chain food safety managers. A focus has been placed on developing materials
in other languages, including Spanish. The first Sprout
Grower Training was conducted in Spanish in January
2019. No Spanish manuals are available yet, but the
presentation slides are ready. Bilingual growers were
asked to become trainers and to help identify other
growers who needed to be trained. The SSA now has
Spanish and Chinese trainers, but are currently in
need of trainers with Vietnamese and Korean proficiency. On April 15, 2019, SSA partnered to host a
webinar for water testing lab personnel titled "Water
Testing Requirements of the Produce Safety Rule."
Going forward, SSA plans to have a second webinar
for testing labs as well as webinars with the International Sprout Growers Alliance (ISGA). SSA is also
focusing on training for retailers and support for small
sprout growers.
Produce Safety Alliance Update - Dr. Betsy Bihn
(unable to attend, provided by Gretchen Wall).
The PSA will be hosting a special session on Monday,
July 22 from 5:30-7 p.m. where additional information
and updates will be provided. Training reports were
reviewed; a total of 42,578 participants have attended PSA Grower Trainings and 2,672 individuals have
attended the PSA Trainer the Trainer Course. Reports
are conducted quarterly and available by request
on the PSA website. All 50 states have hosted PSA
Grower Trainings. The PSA will be hosting fewer PSA
Train-the-Trainer Courses due to lack of demand, so
interested individuals are encouraged to attend the
courses currently registered. New team member,
Dr. Laura Acuna-Maldonado, was hired in October
2018 as the Spanish Extension Associate for the PSA
and has been working on initiatives for Spanish-speaking
audiences domestically and internationally. She
recently translated and helped to launch the PSA's
website in Spanish (es.producesafetyalliance.cornell.
edu). The PSA will be announcing the availability of a
manual Version 1.2 shortly (currently in English, soon
to be translated in Spanish). There has been significant progress in disseminating training, but there are
still may growers who need trained. In addition, FDA

updates, announcements, and the commencement
of inspections underscore the need for educators to
continue providing outreach to the growing community. International training has been progressing and
the PSA has plans to translate curriculum materials in
Mandarin Chinese, Haitian Creole, and through collaborator proposals, Korean and Thai/Ilocano. In the next
year, PSA will be focusing on developing advanced
training materials and workshops for PSA Trainers and
Lead Trainers. The PSA thanks all individuals for their
efforts in providing education and outreach to produce
growers.
4.

Overview of Foodborne Outbreaks since last IAFP
meeting - Kate Kreil:
Since the last meeting, there have been 26 outbreaks,
with 10 linked to produce commodities. Seven of
these outbreaks had known vehicles and three were
unknown. One outbreak of interest was the E. coli
O157:H7 in romaine which trace-back identified a
reservoir sample with a strain very similar to outbreak
strain. There also was a Cyclospora outbreak associated with salads and veggie trays. The salad was
determined to be grown locally, and carrot samples
were determined to be grown internationally. Listeria
monocytogenes was also found in avocados and
Salmonella outbreaks occurred in cucumber, papaya,
melons, onions, cilantro, and basil. PDG members will
be delivering presentations at the Annual Meeting on
several of these outbreaks.

Other New Business:
* Reminder to log in to IAFP Connect as the PDG will
be using the online platform more in the future for
PDG communications. Next year, the PDG will also
be pursuing a remote way to participate in the PDG
meeting (e.g., Zoom) for those who are not able to
attend the Annual Meeting.
* If there are any specific webinar ideas or suggested
speakers, please reach out to Humberto or Gretchen
to coordinate. The PDG no longer needs to find
sponsorship to host webinars as the IAFP Foundation
now assumes this cost.
* It was proposed and agreed upon by the PDG to
host a teleconference in early September to discuss
and refine PDG symposia and workshop proposals.
Gretchen will follow up with more information after the
annual meeting.
* Cameron Bardsley, the PDG's student liaison, provided an update on behalf of the IAFP Student PDG.
Participation in the student mentoring program was
successful in 2019 and continues to match professionals
in the industry with students for the upcoming year.
* At the end of the meeting, PDG members brainstormed ideas for symposia and roundtables and
broke out into groups for further discussion. See
Addendum A for preliminary topic ideas. These topics
will be refined during the September 2019 conference
call.

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Food Protection Trends - November/December 2019

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