At Harvest Kitchen, we offer culinary job training for local youth, operate a Local Foods Café for the community, create our line of signature products, and provide co-packing and private label services in our commercial kitchen.
Our program director, Jen Stott, is familiar with the many ins and outs of running these varied food-related businesses at Harvest Kitchen (and beyond), and is proud to serve on the Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP) Advisory Committee. The committee recently visited the UMass Amherst Food Science Department to discuss collecting information from food entrepreneurs in the northeast region about operating out of shared-use processing facilities.
We are happy to share this information with you, as well as the opportunity to win $50 for completing this survey by January 12!
The development of shared-use processing facilities and incubator kitchens has created opportunities for small and emerging food businesses (SEFB). However, these SEFB are most challenged with navigating their way through regulation and food safety compliance. Therefore, there is a strong need to provide customized training to SEFB personnel to understand critical food safety considerations from concept to commercialization. Integrating the culture of food safety into the product development process from the beginning, rather than at the end, will result in safe products and streamline the development process.
The Universities of Rhode Island and Massachusetts have received a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant to develop an educational program that is intended to help satisfy the food safety educational needs specific to SEFB. The overall goal of this project is to develop and implement a sustainable food safety training program that will help increase knowledge and implementation of food safe practices and enable entrepreneurial success in the marketplace.
To achieve this goal, we are conducting a survey of food processing businesses operating out of shared-use processing facilities in the northeast region. This survey will help us to understand the specific food safety education and training opportunities necessary to support these businesses. By knowing this information, we can better target our outreach efforts and help SEFB personnel to improve their food safety knowledge and practices.
You must be at least 18 years old to participate. This survey will take 30 minutes. We know this is a lot of time. For those who complete the survey in its entirety by January 12th, you can choose to be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card for your participation. There will be 20 recipients. Upon completing the survey, you will be asked if you would like to participate in the lottery drawing. To protect your anonymity if you choose to participate, you will be directed to a separate page NOT connected to the survey, where you can enter your contact information.
To begin the online survey, click here!
If you have any additional questions or want more information, please contact us at the telephone numbers listed below. You can also contact the URI Vice Provost for Graduate Study at the University of Rhode Island at 401-874-4576.
Nicole Richard
University of Rhode Island
401-874-2977
nicolerichard@uri.eduLori Pivarnik, PhD
University of Rhode Island
401-874-2972
lpivarnik@uri.edu
