Path B The FDA's Cooperative Agreement Program for States and Territories to Implement a National Produce Safety Program under PAR-21-174

Project Summary Project Title: Continued Implementation of a Produce Safety Program by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry under Path B. Project Description: This project continues our work to implement the Produce Safety Rule in the state of Maine. It includes providing education, outreach and technical assistance to Maine's produce farms, and performing regulatory inspections under FDA authority. This work will be done under Program Path B. We will not be doing inspections for Subpart M - Sprouts. Project Goals and Objectives: The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry will use federal funding under Path B to meet the project objectives identified in FOA PAR-21-174. These include developing the necessary assessments, plans, and resourcing to manage a mature program, implementing a cohesive education and outreach program; standing up a complete regulatory inspection, compliance and enforcement program; and developing incident response capabilities. Expected Outcomes: We expect our project work to result in: 1. A comprehensive assessment of Maine's produce landscape, resource capacity, and produce related event response capacity. 2. A live, current farm inventory. 3. A modern, efficient database for inventory and inspection functions that allows us to perform program analytics and timely, accurate aggregate reporting. 4. A program structure that is appropriately sized and resourced to be effective. 5. A clearly mapped and developed compliance inspection program utilizing FDA operational protocols and coordinating with FDA compliance structures. 6. A focused outreach and education program that partners strategically with others to develop Maine's produce safety ecosystem. 7. A well-developed and implemented produce related event response program working with FDA and other State partners. More detail on our plans to achieve each of these is provided in the ME 2021-2026 Produce CAP Project Plan. Budget: $550,000 per year, totaling $2,750,000 over the 5 years of this CAP.