MSU Extension’s Free Produce Safety Texting Service will expand to serve the North Central Region
Michigan State University Extension is pleased to announce the expansion of the free Produce Safety Texting Service to 11 additional states in the North Central region. The program, which provides farm workers and their employers with one weekly Produce Safety text will now be available to many more growers and their employees.
This project emerged from the collaborative efforts of produce safety professionals at Michigan State University Extension and several Michigan Conservation Districts. The aim of the project is to support produce growers in their efforts to train their workers about on-farm produce safety. Subscribers to the service receive a text once a week about a core concept related to on-farm produce safety or the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)- Produce Safety Rule. The texts are short, engaging, and available in English and Spanish!
Farm owners and supervisors who are responsible for worker training appreciate this service because it is a simple and effective way to reinforce important produce safety concepts with their workers. Growers subject to the FSMA Produce Safety Rule must keep current records of their worker training efforts, and this free service lends support for that challenge as well. Farm owners and supervisors can sign up to receive a free quarterly report via email that details which texts their workers received and who opened them.
If a grower is concerned that their farm workers are not tech savvy enough for text messaging, they can request a printed set of texts to share with their workers. Printed sets are available in English and Spanish in limited quantities.
All of these resources are free of charge. To sign up, supervisors and farm workers should text “Training” to (888) 531-2157. Para el servicio en Espanol, text “capacitar”. To learn more about how the service works, visit https://www.canr.msu.edu/agrifood_safety/texting-service.
Michigan growers who are seeking additional support with worker training or other aspects of on-farm produce safety of good agricultural practices (GAPs) can contact the Agrifood Safety Work Group at gaps@msu.edu or (517) 788-4292.
Funding for this article and the service was made possible, in part, by the Food and Drug Administration through grant PAR-16-137. The views expressed in the written materials do not necessarily reflect the official policies if the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does any mention of trade names, commercial practices or organization imply endorsement by the United States Government.