So you’ve heard of the new FSMA law? Maybe you’ve been to the Produce Safety Class and are wondering what to do next? You know you need a food safety plan, but where or how do you get one? And why should you buy the Produce Safety Plan from us? You may be thinking….’Isn’t there templates online?’ ‘Can’t I hire someone to write one for me?’ Or ‘I’ll just do it myself and save money’. Or even better, ‘I’ll just ignore the law and hope the inspectors leave me alone.’ What makes our Plan different and why should you buy our book?’
Let’s address those questions…There can certainly be some valid reasons whether or not to buy our book, instead of going with another solution. However, let me address each reason and hopefully, but the end of this short post, you will see the incredible value and wisdom in purchasing our Produce Safety Plan.
1. Templates online
Certainly, you can do some Google searches to try to find templates online to create your safety plan. But the templates out there are not very user friendly and often you have to be a food safety expert to figure out what they are asking or talking about. An example is the “Food Safety Plan Builder’ from the FDA. Yes, it may walk you through creating a plan, but it will take hours and hours of time and probably frustration trying to make it work.
There are better templates than the FDA, such as one developed by Cornell University, but again, it can take a lot of your precious time, time that you could be spending in your field rather than in front of your computer. Even if you use a decent ‘template’ such as Cornell’s, you still have to pick out what you may or may not need, learn how to use the template, and you still have to write many of your SOP’s.
With our Produce Safety Plan, the procedures and requirements are written for you. All you need to do is read through them, answer the pointed questions and create your safety protocol specific to your farm. It comes back to asking yourself, ‘What is your time worth?’.
2. Hire a private consultant
Hiring a private consultant would certainly be the easiest in terms of your time as the consultant will be the one writing the plan. But that time comes at a great cost. Consultants can charge anywhere from $150 – $1,000 per hour and that can add up quickly costing you thousands of dollars for your plan. Yes, it will be highly detailed and very specific to your farm, but is it worth it to spend that kind of money for your produce safety plan?
Many of these food safety consultants cater to large farms and corporate operations And include a lot of additional material, such as HAACP and GAP, which goes well beyond what is required for FSMA’s Produce Safety Rule. As a small farmer, you most likely will not need all the expertise, details and additional material that a high-priced consultant will bring.
Farm Safe USA created our Produce Safety Plan specifically with a small farmer in mind. We focus solely on FSMA’s Produce Safety Rule, which is the federal law that all farmers must comply with. Yet, we have made our plan simple, easy to understand and use, and very affordable, when compared to the thousands you could spend on a private consultant.
3. Write your safety plan yourself
Writing a food safety plan yourself would definitely be the least expensive option. However, there are a couple things to consider. First, do you have the time, the hours and hours and hours of time, it will take to read through the law? the hours of time to digest and decipher what relates to your farm or not? The hours it will take to actual write our your procedures, making them simple enough, but thorough enough, for your workers to follow? What about the records? And then there’s the organization of all those SOP’s and records. How will you find what you need when you need it?
Using our Produce Safety Plan will save you all those hours of work and stress. We have done most of the writing and work for you. The SOP’s are already created. The required records are included. We walk you through the procedures with simple questions so you can create your own specific protocol for you farm. And it’s all organized and contained in a sturdy binder, using high quality paper and organized by sections so you can find the procedure or record you need quickly! Buy it HERE.
4. Ignore the law and hide
Unfortunately, there are some farmers who will chose this option. And we get it. It can be tough to see all these ‘rules’ we have to follow, many of which can be confusing or frustrating when it comes to real farm practices in the nitty-gritty of farm life. So the temptation to ignore it and keep doing your thing despite the law can be strong. And yes, as a small farmer, it is possible you could ‘get away’ with hiding and hope the ‘big government’ won’t mess with your small farm.
But….what happens when they do find you? What happens when those inspectors are at your neighbors farm down the road and it’s only a matter of time before they show up at your door? Now this is not to alarm you or make you mad. But to make you aware that there is a better way to deal with this new food safety law.
When you take responsibility for your farm’s food safety; when you are pro-active about having your record keeping in place, you are in a much better situation, even if the big, bad government doesn’t ‘find you’ right away. You show your customers you are serious about food safety. You show your buyers that you have a plan and are using it, which can possibly bring more buyers to your farm wanting your produce. You are staying informed and active about your industry. And overall, having an easy to follow, farmer-friendly produce safety plan will make you and your workers more organized and food safety conscious. And that is good for everyone!
I hope these few points about why you should buy our Produce Safety Plan makes sense and has helped address some of your concerns. We want to make your compliance with the new FSMA rules as easy, smooth and inexpensive as we can, so you can focus on what you do best…growing delicious, amazing fruits and vegetables for your customers to enjoy. Together, we can all help to keep our produce as safe as possible. Buy it HERE.
Happy farming…. Kathleen and Eric
If you still have questions about our Produce Safety Plan and why or how you can use it for your farm operations, we would love to hear from you. Either comment below or contact us directly by phone or email. We are here to help the small farmer!
You can reach us at: 850-508-1636 – Eric | 530-906-5001 – Kathleen | farmsafeusa@gmail.com
