Food Protection Trends - July/August 2023 - 292

PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLE
Nicole L. Richard,1
Food Protection Trends, Vol 43, No. 4, p. 292-303
https://doi.org/10.4315/FPT-22-031
Copyright©
2023, International Association for Food Protection
2900 100th Street, Suite 309, Des Moines, IA 50322-3855, USA
Lori F. Pivarnik,1
Christopher Von Achen,2
1
2
and Amanda J. Kinchla2*
Food Safety Outreach/Research Program, Dept. of Fisheries, Animal
and Veterinary Sciences, University of Rhode Island, 530 Liberty Lane,
West Kingston, RI 02892, USA
Chenoweth Laboratory, Dept. of Food Science, University of
Massachusetts, 102 Holdsworth Way, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
Increasing Food Safety Preparedness of Small
and Emerging Food Businesses with Targeted
Food Safety Training
ABSTRACT
There is strong consumer demand for local, valueadded
food products; however, these smaller scale food
manufacturing operations tend to face more challenges in
understanding and complying with food safety regulations,
specifically, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCHF) rule. An eightmodule
educational program was developed to introduce
food safety throughout the product development life cycle
and included concepts related to the FSMA PCHF rule.
The program was offered in person (n = 2) and virtually
(n = 6) to 143 participants in total, who were mostly
early-stage food developers. Most (74%, n = 90) had little
to no prior food safety-related training and experience.
The majority (93%, n = 90) agreed they will apply the
knowledge and skills learned in the course to food
applications, such as developing food safety plans, label
review, and good manufacturing practices. Self-rated level
understanding for each module ranged from 4.4 to 4.6
on a 5-point Likert scale. Overall, participants felt better
prepared to conduct various food safety activities after
taking the course, supporting the need for nonmandatory
training opportunities to enhance FSMA PCHF regulatory
compliance. These types of training may be important for
small-scale operations to improve the learning outcome
and regulatory compliance.
INTRODUCTION
Small processors improve the local economy and increase
access to local value-added foods. They grow regional food
production markets, create new employment opportunities,
and strengthen economic investment in local and regional
food system networks (1). Within this market space, there
has been a rise in demand for kitchen incubators that has
coincided with a rise in small and newly emerging food
businesses. Between 2013 and 2016, there was a 50%
increase in these types of facilities, with up to 200 reported
nationwide (9). In addition, the Specialty Food Association
reported that specialty and nonspecialty food sales grew
17% at retail between 2018 and 2020 (15), where specialty
refers to " unique and high-value food item made in small
quantities from high-quality ingredients " (22). Although
*Author for correspondence: Phone: +1 413.545.1017; Fax: +1 413.545.1262; Email: kinchla@umass.edu
292 Food Protection Trends July/August

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