Executive Summary
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) administers the Produce Safety Program (PSP) in support of regulatory oversight for implementing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR) in California.
The PSP, a unit operating under CDFA’s ISD (Inspection Services Division), is the state program responsible for implementing the FSMA PSR in California. The program’s goal is to ensure that California produce farmers understand how to comply with the requirements of the PSR. FDA mandates that the program include maintaining farm inventory, determining inspection priorities within California, and inspecting those farms produced under the PSR; conducting a jurisdictional self-assessment of the program; and providing extensive biannual reporting to the FDA. With more than 20,000 farms in California, maintaining a current and accurate farm inventory was critical to the program’s success and a key federal mandate of the PSP to have a robust system to enhance operations. PSP, among many other programs within CDFA, provides professional services that support and contribute to a safe, abundant, quality food supply; environmentally sound agricultural practices; and an equitable marketplace for California agriculture. The benefits extend not only to California, but also to other states and countries consuming California food products.
FDA requested that PSP improve operations to create a more robust inspectional program, conduct inspections on farms covered under the PSR, provide improved education and outreach to California produce farmers, and provide assistance to FDA and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) during foodborne outbreak crises. To accomplish this goal, the PSP required a robust Information Technology system with reliable capabilities to perform the following: managing and supporting more than 20,000 farm contacts, integrating farm contacts with inspection reports, prioritizing and scheduling produce inspections, allowing various reports and analytics, storing and allowing quick access to large amounts of data, eliminating duplication and providing easy maintenance of records, increasing productivity, providing information security and integrity, and providing a web-based interface.
FSMA enables the FDA to better protect public health by strengthening the food safety system. It allows the FDA to focus more on preventing food safety issues rather than relying primarily on reacting to problems after they occur. For the first time, FSMA established federal science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption.
More recently, the FDA announced “the New Era of Smarter Food Safety,” which represents a new approach to food safety, leveraging technology and other tools to create a safer and more digital, traceable food system. Under this approach, the FDA would be able to enhance traceability, improve predictive analytics, respond more rapidly to outbreaks, address new business models, reduce contamination of food, and foster the development of stronger food safety cultures.
