Description
A. Purpose and Priorities The National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program will award grants that increase the understanding and adoption of established food safety standards, guidance, and protocols. Grants awarded through this program will be carried out in a manner that facilitates the integration of food safety standards and guidance with a variety of agricultural production systems, including conventional, sustainable, organic, and conservation and environmental practices carried out by the eligible entities. The assistance provided by these programs, to the extent practicable, shall be coordinated with and delivered in cooperation with similar services or assistance by other federal agencies or programs serving those eligible entities. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have joined in a collaborative partnership to administer and manage the National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program. This program is designed to develop a comprehensive food safety training, education and technical assistance program for those affected by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Specifically, this program will address the needs of owners and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, and small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. The joint program will award competitive grant funds that enable awardees to establish a National Coordination Center (NCC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance and Regional Centers (RC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance across the country for food safety training, education, and technical assistance. Project Teams for the RCs will reach out into local communities to work with FSMA audiences, while coordinating on a national level through the NCC.FDA is issuing this RFA to request applications for the establishment of a National Coordination Center (NCC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program. The National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program will issue separate RFAs to request applications for the establishment of the Regional Centers (RC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program once funding is available. Applicants will be selected through a peer-reviewed competitive process. The NCC will provide overall leadership for support and coordination of the RCs, while ensuring that food safety training, education, outreach, and technical assistance across the entire program are consistent with FSMA requirements. Each RC will lead, manage, and coordinate the regional development and implementation of food safety training, education, outreach and technical assistance programs for the intended audiences. The National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program will work with RCs and the NCC to help establish and maintain an effective and sustainable program that will meet the needs of intended audiences affected by new FSMA requirements. B. Program Area DescriptionThe FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law on January 4, 2011. The law enabled the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and its Federal food safety partners, to better protect public health, while strengthening the food safety system, by focusing increasingly on preventive food safety measures. FSMA requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish preventive standards for produce safety and for the manufacturing/processing, packing and holding of food. Successful implementation of new standards will require food safety training, education and technical assistance for small and mid-sized entities.Owners and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, and small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers may have limited access to adequate and affordable food safety training and education. Further, they may have limited access to the technical assistance that will enable them to comply with new food safety requirements that will be finalized under FSMA. FSMA requires that the Secretary of Health and Human Services enter into a Memorandum of Understanding or cooperative agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a competitive grant program within the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program will award competitive grants to provide food safety training, education, and technical assistance to owners and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially-disadvantaged farmers, small processors, or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. This collaborative program is to support awards that provide food safety training, education, and technical assistance to owners and operators of small and medium-sized farms, small food processors, and small fruit and vegetable vendors who will be affected by requirements to be finalized under FSMA. The program will focus on helping those key target audiences understand new Federal food safety regulations to be enacted under FSMA, thus enabling them to comply with these requirements. Training, education, and technical assistance programs are needed to provide these key target audiences with fundamental food safety knowledge, starting in advance of the finalization of the new produce safety and preventive controls requirements under FSMA and continuing after the final rules are promulgated. Training, education, and technical assistance activities conducted in advance of final rules are intended to assist farms, especially small farms, in establishing appropriate food safety measures consistent with Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and other existing guidance so they will be better positioned to comply with the new requirements to be finalized under FSMA. Similarly, training, education and technical assistance can help small food processors and fruit and vegetable vendors establish appropriate food safety measures consistent with existing guidance and industry best practices. When the rules are finalized, training and education materials should be modified, as needed, to be consistent with the requirements in the rules. The vision for the National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program is regional centers coordinated by a national center to ensure that regional training, education and technical assistance programs are consistent yet tailored to the differing needs of various areas of the country. C. Program Area Priorities For this request for applications, the National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program will accept proposals that describe a National Coordination Center for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance serving a leading role in coordinating the development of FSMA-related training and education programs and resources for small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, or small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. A plan for conducting education and training to a cadre of regional FSMA trainers must be developed, along with an implementation plan for extending both training and technical assistance to the targeted audiences of farmers, processors and vendors in the respective regions. National Coordination Center (NCC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program Area Priority Code A4183Proposed Budget Requests Projects must not exceed $600,000 in total costs, including indirect costs, for project periods of up to 3 years. The program anticipates making 1 new award. The grant awardee will responsible for the performance metrics below; therefore applications for the NCC must present a strategic plan (including methods and milestones) for how to address the following: Provide overall leadership for support and coordination of the future successfully-funded Regional Centers (RC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance. Frequent communication with regional project teams should include site visits, face-to-face meetings with regional teams, teleconferences, webinars, and/or other mechanisms for ensuring that teams are working collaboratively to achieve overall goals of the competitive program;Work collaboratively with successfully-funded RCs to ensure that training curricula and resources cover fundamental food safety practices relevant to the target audiences across all funded regional centers, and that those competencies are consistent with FSMA produce safety standards and preventive control requirements for manufacturing/processing/packing/holding food, once finalized; Work collaboratively with the RCs to facilitate the integration of FSMA-related food safety standards and guidance (where appropriate) with a variety of agricultural production systems, encompassing conventional, sustainable, organic, and conservation and environmental practices; Work collaboratively with successfully-funded RCs to ensure that all Centers are actively evaluating the impacts of their education, training, and technical assistance programs. Develop a mechanism for collating regional impacts into an overall annual national impact report. Prepare and submit to FDA an annual impact report on National Coordination Center for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance; Serve as an information and communication liaison between FDA and the RCs. While anticipating the full funding of the RCs, the NCC will develop fact sheets and informational resources for communicating new FSMA guidelines to the RCs, identify training and educational resources consistent with the new FSMA guidelines, develop measures to evaluate the RCs' impacts from education, training, and technical assistance programs, and identify and recruit key stakeholders (food safety professionals, food safety organizations, and prime contacts in the food industry) who can serve as informational resources to the NCC and to the future-funded Regional Centers.