Establish a Food Safety and Quality Assurance Program for Small-Scale Farmers and Cooperatives in Mississippi

<p>
Several distributers and processing plants require producers to provide assurances that their products are safe for consumers, purchasing product liability insurance, before they are issued vendor in addition to licenses. These markets provide lucrative outlets for small-scale producers and cooperatives, who do not want to lose these market opportunities. </p>
<P>
The proposed project will be executed in the following manner. Within the University's extension and outreach network there are six hundred farmers and fifteen cooperatives divided into six clusters in thirty-five counties in the state of Mississippi. These will be trained using interactive workshops, field days, farm demonstrations, seminars and conferences to implement HACCP requirements. HACCP requirements will be implemented on farms and packing houses for producers of fruits, vegetables, swine, and goats.</p>