Requesting Your Own Farm Review
Reviews are limited and filled on a first-come-first-serve basis. You can request a review by entering your information in the form below, or calling Safe Wisconsin Produce at (608) 224-4511, or emailing safeproduce@wi.gov.
After attending a grower training class you may have questions about specific ways the Produce Safety Rule requirements might affect your operations. To help determine the impact to your specific operations, an on-farm readiness review tool was developed by the
National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) — in partnership with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state departments of agriculture, and universities from across the U.S. What is an on-farm readiness review?
An
on-farm readiness review is an assessment of a farm’s existing food safety practices. It is not an audit or a pre-inspection. Having a review helps identify how your operations currently align with the Produce Safety Rule and provides guidance on changes to better meet the rule. Growers can then seek technical assistance on how best to make changes in preparation for federal inspections.
Consider the following when requesting an
on-farm readiness review:
- A review builds on knowledge gained from Produce Safety Alliance grower training classes.
- There is no cost to the grower for a review. You will receive a customized report of compliance recommendations and a manual with resources and specific suggestions to follow.
- Reviews are voluntary, non-regulatory, and confidential. Findings and recommendations are only shared with the requestor.
- A review will take about 2.5 hours and will occur during the production season between June and October.
An on-farm readiness review goes into more specific details than the grower training course. On-farm operations are further broken down into the following topics:
- Health and hygiene
- Biological soil amendments of animal origin
- Wild and domestic animals
- Preharvest worker training
- Preharvest sanitation
- Preharvest water
- Harvest worker training
- Harvest sanitation
- Harvest water
- Postharvest worker training
- Postharvest sanitation
- Postharvest water
Not every topic will be covered. Prior to the review you will be contacted by a representative and asked a series of questions to determine which of the above topics apply to your particular operation.
At the end of the review you will be left with an
on-farm readiness review resource manual that details specific steps you can take to address anything that does not align with food safety practices. You can then seek further technical assistance from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, University of Wisconsin-Extension, or other trusted industry representatives before your inspection.