Resource Library
Browse 100+ resources on food systems law and policy.
Farm to School Policy Case Study: Arizona H.B. 2518
School gardens provide a valuable opportunity to incorporate fresh produce into school means and allow students to eat what they grow, but some areas prohibit the use of school garden produce in school cafeterias due to food safety restrictions. This is where state-level policies can step in to provide support. This case study, authored by VLGS alum Raina Goldstein Bunnag MFALP’24 and developed in partnership with National Farm to School Network, tells the story of Arizona’s law H.B. 2518, which established a statewide food safety certification program for school gardens and made it possible for Arizona schools to serve their own garden-grown produce.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: GleanersGleaning Organizations and Value-Added Products
This guide will help gleaning organizations understand and manage some of the food safety liability risks of value-added production. Specifically, this guide discusses the federal food safety obligations of gleaning organizations in value-added production and the implications of value-added production on the enhanced food safety liability protections gleaning organizations enjoy through the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Attorneys, Processors & DistributorsA Guide for Food Hubs on Food Safety Compliance
This guide outlines the legal landscape for food hub decisionmakers looking to build food safety compliance and risk management strategies.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Processors & Distributors, Technical Assistance ProvidersUnderstanding FSMA’s Preventive Controls Rule
This guide discusses how the Food Safety Modernization Act Preventative Controls Rules impacts grain businesses, and empowers grain farmers, processors, and food manufacturers to understand and comply with federal food safety laws.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Processors & Distributors, Technical Assistance ProvidersUnderstanding When a Produce Market Intermediary is Subject to FSMA
This fact sheet provides information to assist produce market intermediaries in determining whether they are: (1) facilities that must register with FDA and comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule; (2) secondary activities farms that must comply with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule; or (3) not subject to either FSMA rule.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Community Organizations, Growers, Policymakers, Processors & Distributors, ResearchersFood Safety and Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule State Implementation Interactive Map
This interactive map illustrates the specifics of each state’s individual produce safety program and can be filtered by common questions about state implementation of the PSR, allowing for all states to be viewed side-by-side.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Technical Assistance ProvidersFSMA PSR Implementation and State Laws
This fact sheet illustrates each state’s individual produce safety program by summarizing some of the information found on the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule State Implementation interactive map.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Technical Assistance ProvidersInteractions Between The FSMA PSR and Other Laws that May Apply to Produce Operations
This fact sheet discusses four federal laws that may overlap with the Food Safety and Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule: the Clean Water Act (and state regulation of nonpoint source pollution), the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and guidelines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Topic: Food Safety, Healthy Food Access Audience: Community Organizations, ResearchersHow an Academic Partnership and Community Engagement Helped Design a Food Safety Rating System in Seattle & King County
This case study examines how Seattle and King County developed a food safety rating system that improved inspection quality and consistency, addressed equity concerns, and provided consumers with the food safety information they wanted.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Technical Assistance ProvidersProduce Safety Rule Inspections and Third-Party Audits
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.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Processors & Distributors, Technical Assistance ProvidersFSMA Supply Chain Program Requirements for Processors and Their Produce Suppliers
This fact sheet clarifies a processor's responsibilities under the Food Safety and Modernization Act Preventive Controls for Human Foods (FSMA PCHF) when working with exempt and qualified exempt eligible farms and qualified mixed-type facilities and outlines what documentation the processor needs to obtain from these suppliers to be compliant.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Technical Assistance ProvidersFSMA PSR Coverage and Exemptions for Farms with Multiple Business Entities
This fact sheet describes how producers should determine whether the sales from multiple business entities count toward calculating a farm’s exemption status under the Produce Safety Rule. There may be situations where it is appropriate to consider sales from separate farm business entities separately.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Processors & Distributors, Technical Assistance ProvidersUnderstanding the Relationship Between FDA Rules, Guidance, and Other Communications
This fact sheet describes the process for establishing and changing the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Produce Safety Rule and explains the relative legal effect of FDA regulations, guidance, and other FDA communications, particularly those that come through the Technical Assistance Network and Produce Safety Network.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Processors & Distributors, Technical Assistance ProvidersUsing the FDA Technical Assistance Network and FOIA to Access Information About FSMA
The FDA Technical Assistance Network (TAN) is a resource for the food safety community that answers specific questions about Food Safety Modernization Act compliance. This fact sheet explores the considerations relevant to making the TAN responses available to the public.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Technical Assistance ProvidersAlternatives and Variances to the Produce Safety Rule
This fact sheet describes the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule provisions that an alternative or a variance would apply to, who is eligible to develop an alternative or variance, the approval process for both, and the high burden of supporting either an alternative or a variance with credible scientific and technical evidence.
Topic: Food Safety Audience: Growers, Technical Assistance ProvidersProduce Farms, Foodborne Illness, and Legal Liability
This fact sheet emphasizes that producers have long been subject to liability laws, outlines the nuance that Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) adds to that existing liability, and covers how compliance with FSMA can be helpful in the event of a lawsuit.