Fact Sheet

Produce Safety Rule Inspections and Third-Party Audits

September 2020   |   Extension Legal Services Initiative
Authors
Sophia Kruszewski, Elizabeth Newbold,
Browse Resources

This fact sheet helps to distinguish between produce audits and the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety Rule inspections and discusses how they may impact a producer’s liability.

For references and endnotes, please refer to the PDF version of this document.

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Produce growers have asked about the difference between produce audits and FSMA PSR inspections, particularly regarding any legal protections or obligations that result as a consequence of being found in or out of compliance during a FSMA PSR inspection, or from succeeding or failing to meet an audit’s acceptance criteria. This factsheet helps to distinguish between audits and inspections, and discusses how they may impact a producer’s liability.

Suggested Citation

Produce Safety Rule Inspections and Third-Party Audits, NECAFS & Vt. L. Sch. Ctr. for Agric. & Food Sys., (2020), https://elsi.necafs.org/sites/default/files/uploads/fsma_inspections_third_party_audits_factsheet.pdf.  

Sophia Kruszewski

Former Director, Food and Agriculture Clinic, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems

Sophia Kruszewski JD’13 is the Deputy Policy Director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and was formerly an assistant professor at Vermont Law School, where she directed the Food and Agriculture Clinic at the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems.

Elizabeth Newbold

Assistant Director, University of Vermont Extension, Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety

Elizabeth Newbold is the Assistant Director for the Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety (NECAFS), one of four USDA funded regional centers tasked with coordinating training, education and outreach related to the FSMA Produce Safety Rule and the FSMA Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule. Her work focuses on coordination and facilitation of the Northeast regional network to support a national food safety training, education, extension, outreach, and technical assistance system among small and medium-sized producers and small processors.

Related Resources

Alternatives and Variances to the Produce Safety Rule
Alternatives and Variances to the Produce Safety Rule »
FSMA PSR Implementation and State Laws
FSMA PSR Implementation and State Laws »
Produce Farms, Foodborne Illness, and Legal Liability
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