Food Protection Trends - September/October 2024 - 345

Administration acknowledged the need for education and
training within the produce industry due to the complexity
of implementing these regulations. Consequently, the
collaborative effort of Cornell University, the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) resulted in the establishment of the
Produce Safety Alliance (PSA).
Formed with the primary objective of creating a
standardized national training program, PSA became the
cornerstone for preparing the produce industry to seamlessly
adhere to the regulatory requirements imposed by the PSR.
Currently, attending the PSA Grower Training course is
one way to satisfy the PSR food safety educational training
requirement that states that " at least one supervisor or
responsible party for your farm must have successfully
completed food safety training at least equivalent to that
received under standardized curriculum recognized as
adequate by the Food and Drug Administration " (10). The
PSA Grower Training course, which is frequently taught by
extension educators, state departments of agriculture, and
commodity organizations, is intended to familiarize attendees
with the PSR requirements and the good agricultural
practices supporting regulatory compliance. The PSA Grower
Training course continues to be an essential resource for
instructing the fundamentals of produce safety and fulfilling
regulatory requirements. However, to efficiently target
extension and outreach efforts that support the continued
regulatory compliance needs of the state of Washington
produce industry, it is essential to evaluate the short-term
outcomes of the PSA grower trainings to better understand
gaps in food safety knowledge that need further resources.
Assessing knowledge gained through pre- and posttests
is a standard tool used to evaluate the effectiveness and
impact of extension programming (1, 7, 8). In this model,
a pretest is given to participants prior to starting the
program, and the same test is given as a posttest at the end
of the programming. Using the same test before and after
a course provides a valuable means to gauge the change
in participant's knowledge resulting from the training
program and the understanding of the materials that were
presented. When examining the knowledge gained from
pre- to posttest, it is imperative to extend the analysis
beyond overall test scores. To pinpoint specific areas
in which gaps in understanding persist after a training
program, a comprehensive assessment should investigate
changes in knowledge on the basis of individual test
questions and concepts. This approach allows for future
programming and educational efforts to be tailored to
address specific knowledge gaps and enhance overall comprehension.
Therefore, this article outlines the knowledge
change by question and topic for participants who attended
a PSA Grower Training course in Washington State in
2022, highlighting topics that need additional educational
resources according to the posttests.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In 2022, every PSA grower training facilitated by
Washington State University Extension (WSU) and the
Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA)
included the administration of an identical 25-question
test both before (pretest) and after (posttest) each training.
The pre- and posttest assessment was initially developed
by the Southern Regional Center for Food Safety Training,
Outreach, and Technical Assistance (https://sc.ifas.ufl.
edu/), a program funded by the USDA National Institute
of Food and Agriculture (9). The assessment was reviewed
for content validity by subject matter experts, and validation
was achieved by administering the assessment to a group
of untrained undergraduate students before and after a
PSA grower training, revealing a significant difference in
performance (P < 0.05) (9). The pre- and posttest assessment
is available for use by the three additional USDA National
Institute of Food and Agriculture regional centers: the North
Central Regional Center; the Northeastern Regional Center;
and the Western Regional Center. These evaluations, offered
in both English and Spanish, can be accessed at the following
link: https://foodsafetyclearinghouse.org/resources/psatraining-pre-and-post-test-evaluation-english-and-spanishversions.
In addition, at all trainings in 2022, attendees were
provided with the PSA Grower Training Manual (version
1.2; Ithaca, NY 14850).
Questions were categorized according to the specific
PSA grower training module being assessed (Table 1).
The change in knowledge for each of the 25 questions was
examined on the basis of the difference in the percentage
of participants that correctly answered each question in the
pre- and posttest. Changes in knowledge were characterized
as either low (<15%) or high (≥15%). Also, on the basis of
the posttest correct response rate, each module and question
were categorized on the basis of the need for additional
educational resources; ≥75% of participants answered
correctly, no resources needed, and <75% of participants
answered correctly, resources needed. Data analysis was
performed using R (version 4.3.1; R Foundation for
Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria), and visualizations
were crafted using Excel (Version 16.86; Microsoft
Corporation, Redmond, WA). A binomial generalized
regression with a χ2
and a Bonferroni correction was used
to determine whether the percentage of participants that
answered a question or questions by topic differed between
the pre- and posttest. Significance was set at P ≤ 0.05.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Pre- and posttest data were gathered from 10 PSA grower
trainings held in Washington State throughout 2022. Among
these sessions, nine were conducted virtually, and one was
held in person. The pre- and posttest developed by the
Southern Regional Center encompassed questions from all
seven PSA grower training modules; however, the number
September/October Food Protection Trends 345

https://sc.ifas.ufl.edu https://sc.ifas.ufl.edu https://www.foodsafetyclearinghouse.org/resources/psa-training-pre-and-post-test-evaluation-english-and-spanish-version https://www.foodsafetyclearinghouse.org/resources/psa-training-pre-and-post-test-evaluation-english-and-spanish-version https://www.foodsafetyclearinghouse.org/resources/psa-training-pre-and-post-test-evaluation-english-and-spanish-version

Food Protection Trends - September/October 2024

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