Bridging The GAPs

WSDA's Bridging the GAPs project aims to improve food safety by providing education, information and technical assistance relating to on-farm food safety for small, mid-sized and diversified fruit and vegetable farms.

The project is designed to support growers in their efforts to meet current voluntary food safety standards and prepare for the upcoming FDA Produce Safety Rule. All resources and workshops are based on the USDA Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)/Good Handling Practices (GHP), and resources will be developed to share FDA Produce Safety Rule standards once they are finalized at the federal level.

For more general information about the WSDA Good Agricultural/Good Handling Practices Audit Program, visit the Fruit and Vegetable Inspection Program GAP/GHP webpage. That page will provide the basics on the audit program, and should be your starting point in considering the GAP/GHP audit and certification.

As more buyers require GAP/GHP certification for growers and processors to sell into markets such as schools, hospitals and retail stores, small farms face market requirements or preferences to become GAP/GHP certified, though currently the certification is not required by state or federal regulations.

Meeting the GAP/GHP standards may be daunting for smaller farms or those that are highly diversified, with multiple types of fruits, vegetables and livestock activities that may affect their operating procedures, documentation and audit process.

Auditors are interested in working with small farms to achieve certification and solutions that meet food safety goals in ways that work for smaller farms, but their experience has been with larger single-crop operations and/or farms with complex handling and packing operations. Accurate information regarding GAP/GHP requirements and cost-effective implementation methods developed during the project has provided in-depth resources to assist growers and auditors as they work together on GAPs practices and audits.

WSDA's initial Bridging the GAPs project (2011-2014) was funded through a USDA Specialty Crop Block grant to improve food safety and develop Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Handling Practices (GHP) education and outreach services. The focus for the project team was identifying and sharing best practices relating to on-farm food safety for small, mid-sized and diversified fruit and vegetable farms. The work brought auditors and growers together in a variety of settings in order to help each group better understand the practices of the other.

The Bridging the GAPs project, overseen by the WSDA Office of Compliance and Outreach, in partnership with WSDA's Fruit and Vegetable Inspection Program, provided targeted information and support for small, mid-sized, and diversified farms working on food safety planning and considering a GAP/GHP audit.

The project team conducted education internally with auditors about small and diversified farming operations, and externally with the farming community about examples of safe growing practices that meet the GAP certification standards. WSDA sought to engage growers throughout the project by soliciting questions, concerns and examples of successful solutions to guide the work. WSDA's licensed USDA GAP/GHP auditors—experts on standards for large-scale and single crop production—received hands-on education, tools and resources to help them understand the challenges of smaller-scale diversified producers and recognize record-keeping and food safety solutions that work for these farms.