Food Protection Trends - May/June 2021 - 272

TABLE 3. Top five problem questions from the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training
module and the percent that correctly answered the questions in both years
Pretest
% correct

Posttest
% correct

Comanagement refers to the balance between which
two factors?

49

77

Which of the following choices is least likely to reduce
your property's wildlife population?

38

58

17 (Module 5: Agriculture Water Part I:
Which of the following is used as an indicator of fecal
Production Water; Part II Postharvest Water) contamination of a water supply?

24

73

22 (Module 7: How to Develop a Farm Food
Safety Plan)

Which of the following statements regarding Farm Food
Safety Plans is true?

6

54

24 (Module 7: How to Develop a Farm Food
Safety Plan)

Which of the following records is required by the FSMA
Produce Safety Rule?

33

39

Question no. and corresponding module

Question

11 (Module 4: Wild, Domestic Animals, and
Land Use)
13 (Module 4: Wild, Domestic Animals, and
Land Use)

change results also indicated that 37% of participants wrote,
completed, or modified their farm food safety plans after
attending the course, which provides evidence of positive
food safety change. This pattern, in which a low correct
response rate is, nevertheless, accompanied by behavioral
change, was also observed with question 24 (required records
for PSR). In 2019, the Produce Safety Alliance developed a
new document that highlights all the required records under
the PSR for distribution (28). Many trainers have added this
as a resource during their PSA Grower Trainings.
Another module that didn't show any knowledge change
between pre- and posttest but that did show behavioral
change was module 2 (Worker Health, Hygiene, and
Training). The 12-month behavioral change results indicated
that 33% of respondents were already implementing training
for employees before the training and that 44% implemented
this practice after training. The results of this study found
behavioral change in many of the major PSR-required areas.
Bihn et al. (2019) found that, among the various factors
that motivate individuals to learn about food safety (3), the
top four were (i) personal commitment to producing a safer
product, (ii) reducing liability exposure, (iii) maintaining
market access to meet buyer requirements, and (iv) meeting
regulatory requirements of FSMA. Within this study the
authors found that farmers with a written food safety plan
ranked perceived barriers differently than those who did not
have a food safety plan. Those with a plan ranked their top
barriers as (i) time, (ii) financial resources, and (iii) liability;
they were also less likely to select " greatly limiting " when
rating levels of perceived barriers. Farmers without a written
food safety plan, however, ranked their greatest perceived

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Food Protection Trends May/June

barriers as (i) financial resources, (ii) farm infrastructure, and
(iii) time. These areas need to remain a focus of educators as
they develop a new food safety curriculum and/or continue
to deliver PSA Grower Trainings.
CONCLUSIONS
The goal of this study was to assess produce growers'
knowledge change after attending the PSA Grower Training
that was held between 2017 and 2019 in the NCR. Findings
will be used to create educational materials and to gain
insight on how to better conduct training so as to guide
produce growers into compliance with the FSMA PSR.
Findings suggest that trainers themselves may need more
education on how to deliver practical training and resources
and how to increase knowledge in specific portions of the
FSMA PSR, which will reduce and/or eliminate confusion by
the participants. The knowledge assessment is a standardized
tool that has been used across every region in the United
States; it can be a helpful tool to determine the future needs
of the produce industry. Various educational resources such
as fact sheets and guidance documents have been created
by educators within the NCR to help guide the produce
industry on the PSR to further increase pretest scores and
behavioral change after the PSA Grower Training. This
study provides evidence that the PSA Grower Training was
effective at increasing the knowledge and behavioral change
of the produce industry in 10 states in the NCR. This study
also provides evidence that, whereas behavior change was
observed after the training, it did not correlate neatly with
the areas of knowledge gain. This confirms that knowledge is
just one of many factors that contribute to behavior change.
Food Protection Trends - May/June 2021

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