The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that foodborne illnesses cost $15.6 billion each year. Food safety is a priority for all involved in the food supply chain domestically and globally. Stakeholders have developed responses and tools to prevent food contamination. These tools include the private accredited voluntary standards recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) through their benchmarking process and government regulations. One such standard is the FDA-Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).


You can access free webinars and podcasts created by Florida Organic Growers at their Food Safety for Farmers website.


For specific questions about FSMA, please contact the Federal Drug Administration directly at their Technical Assistance Network.


QCS provides readiness assessments for all certification schemes and standards offered (e.g.: Organic, GLOBALG.A.P., Harmonized GAP, Aquaponics, etc). These assessments will serve as a gap analysis or diagnostic on the level of compliance with the chosen standard(s) providing valuable information to the interested party on the requirements that are not met.