Regulations, Certification, and the Specialty Mushroom Industry: GAPs, FSMA, and Food Safety

January 26, 2022


Regulations, Certification, and the Specialty Mushroom Industry
GAPs, FSMA, and Food Safety in Mushroom Production: Webinar #1 

Join the Cornell Small Farms Program and CCE Harvest NY in an opportunity to learn how to navigate the various regulations and certifications in a specialty mushroom enterprise. The type, location, scale, and markets of a given farm all affect the programs that farmers are required or can choose to join.

Specialty mushrooms are defined by USDA as any species not belonging to the genus Agaricus (button, crimini, portabella). Examples of programs we will discuss in this two-part series include FSMA Produce Rule, GAPs (Good Agricultural Practices), New York Grown and Certified, Certified Naturally Grown, and Organic Certification. 

This session will cover how contamination is spread, provide an overview of microbial risk reduction, basic food safety practices, and clarify the differences between food safety audits vs. inspection. We will also hear directly from Smallhold, a NYC-based certified organic mushroom operation that uses a distributed farming network and local, urban farming hub to sell specialty mushrooms and is a participant in the GAPs certification program.

Speakers:
Yolanda Gonzalez, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Harvest NY
Robert Hadad, CCE Cornell Vegetable Program
Hannah Shufro, Smallhold 

This content will expand on resources already available in our Harvest to Market guide at CornellMushrooms.org. Both webinars will be recorded and posted for later viewing.

Registration is free for anyone interested in learning about these topics.