Development of Native American Tailored Produce Safety and Agricultural Water Quality Trainings in Arizona

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is the first major reform to the United States food safety laws in more than 70 years. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to prevention. During governmental changes, Native American populations are the last demographic to be informed. With the implementation of FSMA, Arizona is unique situation because half of the farmers and ranchers are Native Americans. It is estimated that nearly 21 million farm acres in Arizona are tended to by state's twenty-two Native American tribes and nations. It is apparent that Tribal lands contribute to the overall success of the Arizona agriculture industry. Despite the strong presences of Native American farmers, there are no hands-on delivery mechanisms of culturally sensitive resources for Tribal growers related to food safety and water quality principles in Arizona. The central focus of this project is to give Native American growers the opportunity to assist in developing food safety trainings that is culturally sensitive. Native American tribes that we are focusing on are central Arizona tribes who will have the opportunity to attend 3 trainings in Summer 2018. The three trainings will highlight a different area of food safety and water quality. The classes will be based on the following topics: Water microbiology for irrigation water, Possible farm intrusion from weather, animal and humans, andWriting an effective farm plan. Each of the topics are essential elements in the FSMA that we decided these areas need to be the main focus of our culturally sensitive trainings. Our collection process will be to implement pre-questionnaire and discussion based on the topic and following the class to have a post-questionnaire. After the trainings participants and stakeholders can attend an optional one-on-one assessment to express their opinions and recommendations for future trainings.