Food Safety for Small to Very Small Food Processor's Justification

From Extension Collaborative Wiki

Food-borne illness costs the U.S. economy approximately $5.6 billion annually in direct medical expenditures and lost productivity. A major cause of food-borne illness is the contamination of foods with microbial pathogens during processing. The risk for microbial contamination is especially a problem for foods produced in small and very small food establishments, which, when compared to larger businesses, may have inadequate support, knowledge, and/or training of safe food handling practices. The lack of technical expertise along with the complexity of regulations and limited sources of credible food safety information has resulted in potentially hazardous gaps in the nation’s food safety network. The difficulty that small businesses have when locating and understanding food safety information has also placed a burden on local health departments, state agencies, and extension specialists, who frequently answer questions related to product safety, licensing, inspections, and other regulatory issues.

Providing a national resource that connects a Community of Practice (CoP) comprised of food safety professionals with the Community of Interest (CoI) of small to very small food processing businesses will help ensure compliance, increase efficiency of operations, reduce barriers of entry into the market, and most importantly reduce the risk of foodborne illness to consumers. This CoP emphasizes a dynamic information-gathering mechanism that integrates knowledge and expertise specific to food safety issues pertaining to small food establishments. Ultimately this site will make information about safe food processing readily available to any farmer, small food processing business, charity or religious group that seeks such information in order to produce safe food products that comply with local, state, and federal regulations, thus improving the overall safety of the food supply.