Food Safety

Reimbursement rates:

• Fifty percent of eligible expenses for all applicants.

• Seventy-five percent of eligible expenses for historically disadvantaged farmers, including beginning farmers and socially disadvantaged, veteran, and limited resource farmers.

Eligible Expenses and Reimbursement Rates:

• Development of a food safety plan for first-time certification: 50–75 percent, no maximum.

• Maintaining and updating an existing food safety plan: 50 percent up to a $250 maximum and 75 percent up to $375.

• Food safety certification: 50–75 percent up to a $2,000 maximum.

• Microbiological testing: 50 percent on up to five tests per year.

• Training: 100 percent up to $200.

• Certification uploads: 50 percent up to $250 and 75 percent up to $375.

Applications are being accepted either at your local Farm Service Agency office or via an online FSCSC Application Portal at apps.fsa.usda.gov/fscsc/index.jsp. The period for calendar year 2023 runs from February 1, 2023, through January 31, 2024.

It is unclear how long this program will run and/or how much it is being utilized, but strong enrollment can demonstrate an industry need and can help spur additional resources in future farm bills or legislation. Small farmers were hit hard at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many restaurants and retail accounts closed. Turning to wholesale markets (and increasingly, restaurants) generally requires that a food safety plan and certification are in place, and the FSCSC funds are meant to help growers make that pivot, expanding market access.

Who is eligible?

• Be a specialty crops producer (fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture).

• Have obtained or renewed a 2023 food safety certification issued during the calendar year 2023 and have paid eligible expenses.

• Meet the definition of a small business or very small business.

→ Small business: An average monetary value of specialty crops sold during the three-year period preceding the program year of $250,000 to $500,000.

→ Very small business: Specialty crop sales during the three-year period prior to program year of $0 to $250,000.

Please contact CCOF’s food safety team at fsdepartment@ ccof.org if you require assistance obtaining invoices for eligible expenses, if you would like more information on food safety certifications and resources, or if you'd like help finding a consultant and building a plan.

Produce

O'Crowley Farms

Opal Creek Farm

Organic Andean Grains Inc.

Paradise Wine Country, LLC dba Saltiel Family Vineyard

Paradox Foods, LLC

Parasol Mycology

Paul DeBusschere Ranch

Peggy Chiu dba AMT Vineyard

Poole Family Farms, Inc. dba Poole Family Farms

Premium California Foods

Produce Marketing & Consultancy, Inc. dba Lake Glenn Farms

RAEN Winery dba CADA LLC

Rancho del Avo

Richard Hendricks Grove

Roderick Ranch Farms

Rodnick LLC dba Rodnick. farm

Russian River Lavender Salt Point Seaweed Company,