Questions for Guidance/Direction

Working Committee #1 Meeting August 12, 2011 4:00-5:00 EST

Questions for Guidance/Direction A. Referring to suppliers’ requirements: 1. What are worries in the operation? 2. What are barriers encountered by suppliers? 3. What are the risks? 4. What is the producer responsible for asking about? What should they know? 5. How do we expect someone to receive the information? B. Issues and barriers related to education efforts: 1. How do we want to tackle this? 2. What is the take away? What are the absolute musts?

Agenda -Review of our supplier requirements issues list -Discussion of issues and barriers related to education efforts focusing on: A. Burden of foodborne illness (public health) B. Burden of foodborne illness (business/economics) C. Impact of litigation/regulatory action

Main topics of Discussion A. Supplier requirements list (James & Jeanne Vana will lead) Finalized list includes: 1. Packaging 2. Microbial testing 3. Chemicals 4. Sanitizers/cleaners 5. Fertilizers 6. Soil amendments 7. Growth media 8. Lubricants 9. Seedlings/stock 10. Water (purchased) 11. Ice (analysis, microbial testing) 12. Personnel **Insurance was discussed, but we are going to put this topic on hold.

B. Issues & barriers related to education effort -Science-based curriculum needs an applicable example so the philosophy can be conveyed opposed to a test tube farm that is sterile and does not relate to farmers -Horror stories might be a good method for communicating the threat of foodborne illness and how to handle different situations -Checklist or sheet of pathogens linked to specific foods so farmers are aware of the specific risks (ie: E. coli & water, sprouts, milk) -Importance of animals (cattle, sheep, deer, birds) in or around the field should be communicated (ie: small producer with a herd of 15 cattle & 10 sheep will have a different risk level compared to a farmer with no animals) -The role of neighbors, the environment, and the production area should be a park of the risk-assessment and production -“There are deaths that happen from pathogens” should be a main point -Economic business perspective can be used to describe to individuals the potential cost in events that happen, such as: (a) Losing the market (b) Gaining entry -Information will be sought from Linda Calvin & Roberta Cook on: 1. Legal consequences 2. Litigation 3. Victims & business loss 4. Regulatory actions 5. What information must farmers know? 6. Concept of strict reliability Contact Information: - Robert Cook - Linda Calvin -Sheet referred to is called “Foodborne Illness Causing Organisms in the US— What you need to Know”

Next Meeting Agenda Tackle 1.3 Biological, chemical, resources