A Food Safety Education Needs Assessment for Small-Scale Produce Growers Interested in Value-Added Food Production

What is it about?

This study used focus groups and a combination of web-based and printed surveys to evaluate growers’ attitudes towards and knowledge of value-added business and assess their food safety education needs. A total of 136 Indiana produce growers participated in the study, including 38 focus group participants and 98 survey participants. Overall, growers were aware of the importance of food safety, with 78% of the survey participants strongly agreed that food safety was a top priority in value-added business. Most survey participants (82%) self-reported to be knowledgeable about food safety and they were confident in their ability to run a successful value-added business, however, the food safety risk perceptions of some growers were insufficient, with 19 % of survey participants perceived food safety was not a problem on their farm business. Three major barriers to food safety training identified were limited time, overwhelming amount of information, and a lack of educational materials.

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