Amish Farm Food Safety Curriculum Materials
FSMA Produce Grower Training Slide Set
This product is intended as an alternative delivery mode for presenting slides developed by the Produce Safety Alliance. It was designed to accommodate plain sect (Amish) growers who prefer alternatives to computer training or where electrical connections are not available. However, the books can be used in any situation where access to projectors is inconvenient.
The slide book presents the same material found in the PSA Version 1.1 slides, with some adaptations of images and word emphases made to make them easier to view in book form. It is not intended to replace the PSA Grower Training Manual. You must still provide each registrant with a copy of to receive the course certificate.
The material is printed in full color on durable paper and assembled in a durable 3-ring binder so they may be collected at the end of the workshop for future training. The slide numbers in the book correspond to those in the Version 1.1 PSA Grower Manual making it easy for the audience to follow along.
Teaching Tips
The slide books have been piloted at several PSA FSMA certification workshops that were exclusively attended by Amish growers. We have found that a single slide book can be shared between two students. This helps reduce the number of books needed and thus decreases training costs. There are some mechanical differences between using the slide books versus what has now become the standard PowerPoint projected presentations, so we recommend that trainers review the books prior to using them. We have found that it is easiest to teach off the PSA grower manual, making regular and frequent references to the slide number so that participants are kept in synch with the two books. Placing a teacher's copy of the slide book at an elevated position, such as on a box, is useful to avoid losing eye contact with participants. We found that the 3-ring slide books can be laid flat on the table, although it may be beneficial to supply blocks of wood placed under the tops of the binders for a better viewing angle.
We eliminated some pictures and enlarged others that didn't look clear enough printed in black and white in the PSA Grower Manual. So, we recommend planning ahead to make notes in your Grower Manual whenever it is particularly advantageous to refer to the color enlargements in the slide book. Encourage participants to use their yellow highlighter pens as specific points in the workshop you think should be emphasized.Â
We have found the slide book method to be more fun to teach than the slideshow presentations. We hope you have the same experience.
Note: In June of 2019, the Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) updated Version 1.1 of the PSA curriculum to Version 1.2. The new version contains some important changes in water quality testing. We strongly recommend that trainers who use the FSMA Produce Grower Training Slide Set continue to use the Version 1.1 manuals since it will be easier to follow along. PSA permits this as long as they download, print, and hand out Recent FDA Announcements – Agricultural Water to each workshop attendee. This material should be discussed during the Module 5.1 presentation.
When using the slide books for training, be sure to specifically order Version 1.1 grower manuals from the Produce Safety Alliance, and provide each attendee with the PSA supplementary Agricultural Water information to add to Module 5 as described in the "Policy for Manual Version 1.1 Use" section.
Training Flip Chart for Harvesters and Handlers of Fresh Produce
The FSMA Produce Safety Rule (21 CFR Part 112) requires covered produce farms to have training programs in place that teach harvesters and handlers basic hygiene and sanitary practices for preventing produce contamination. The material covered in this flip chart meets the worker training requirements established in this regulation.
This durable, 44-page re-usable flip chart produced by Penn State Extension is designed to help growers meet the FDA training standards in the FSMA Produce Safety Rule or those required in third-party audits. The material in the flip chart was created with small scale plain sect growers in mind and includes over 35 professionally drawn images that reflect Amish growing activities in a culturally appropriate manner. Preview the first 12 pages of the Training Flip Chart for Harvesters and Handlers of Fresh Produce which contains a guide for presenting the material.
Educators can order the flip charts online through Penn State Extension by going to the link below. Amish growers without access to the internet can order by telephone by calling 1-877-345-0691 and asking for publication number AGRS-147.
Purchase the Training Flip Chart for Harvesters and Handlers of Fresh Produce
Additional Resources on the Plain Community
Other Penn State Extension Amish Resources
Farm Food Safety Training for Amish Produce Growers Covered under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), 2021. Laborde, Luke, Jeffrey Stoltzfus, and Kaila Thorn. Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies 9(2):151-64.Â
This article describes recent farm food safety standards issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that require most harvesters and handlers of commercially grown fresh produce to attend workshops on the elements of the regulation and best practices to prevent on-farm contamination. We describe the current FDA-approved computer-based Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) national farm food safety curriculum and how Penn State Extension, working with PSA and a regional Amish food safety advisory group, created an alternative printed version of the curriculum that would be acceptable to all Amish growers regardless of restrictions on the use of learning technologies to present materials. We also present data that suggests the two curriculum delivery methods are equivalent in terms of knowledge gained by comparing pre- and post-workshop survey results.
Working with Plain Sect Growers
Amish and conservative Mennonites make up what sociologists refer to as "plain sect" communities. There are many different groups that fit this title and they vary in their use of and acceptance of technology. They are united, however, by their desire to be "set apart" from the modern world in some form. They settle in intentional communities in typically agrarian settings. For more background on the Amish and Mennonite communities that may help you to conduct training activities, read the article Working with Plain Sect Growers.
Produce Grower Training Slide Set
Training Flip Chart for Harvests and Handlers of Fresh Produce
External Resources
This work is supported by the Food Safety Outreach Competitive Grants Program, Grant no. 2016-70020-25798/project accession no. 1010626 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of Penn State Extension and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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