Food Safety and Curriculum Development in School Gardens and Communities: Teacher Edition

Course created in collaboration with NMDA/NMSU SBFP & EPC.

Learners will learn the key components of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act as it applies to school and community gardens and farms. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; 2021), nearly 1 in 6 people get sick with foodborne illnesses in the United States. This course will provide foundational considerations for food safety and food handling in school and community gardens. Throughout the course, learners will gain exposure to the seven FSMA rules and create an outline of important considerations to implement food safety practices in their school garden or their home agricultural projects. This course is designed for high school educators who teach courses related to food safety and safe food handling for school gardens or farms.

By the end of this course, learners should be able to:

1. Recognize safety risks to produce.
2. Interpret and adapt FSMA Rules and the Produce Safety Rule to school gardens.
3. Examine safety risks and apply them to record-keeping in school gardens.
4. Evaluate corrective actions to mitigate food safety risks.
5. Create an individualized Food Safety Plan for school gardens, farms, or personal agricultural projects.