FAYETTEVILLE — Food safety basics and regulatory compliance are the focus of Food Safety School, an all-day workshop that will be held on June 17 at the Fayetteville Public Library by food scientists with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and Virginia Tech.
Jennifer Acuff, assistant professor of food microbiology and safety for the Division of Agriculture, and Alexis Hamilton, assistant professor at Virginia Tech’s food science and technology department, will co-host the workshop which begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. in the Pat Walker Community Room at the library, 401 W. Mountain St., in Fayetteville.
“The session is meant for local food producers who are small enough that they do not fall under the FDA’s Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule but still aim to make safe food and possibly grow or scale-up their business,” Acuff said.
The rule is mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act and incorporates the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, which generally requires human food manufacturers, processors and packers to comply. However, “there are exemptions and modified requirements,” according to an FDA fact sheet.
The Food Safety School, which is for Arkansas residents only, has a $25 registration fee and offers training on the fundamentals of food safety and regulatory compliance for beginning, small and growing value-added food businesses. Lunch will be served at 12:15 p.m. and the workshop will adjourn at 4 p.m.
Online registration is now open. After registering for this program, participants will receive a registration confirmation email with instructions for accessing the online portion of the course, which takes less than two hours to complete and must be done before the June 17 workshop.
Acuff is a member of the food science department with the Division of Agriculture’s research and outreach arms, the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service. She is also part of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.
