Wonderful Washington

Instruction
The NWFPA offers a process controls class each fall, which compliments the process controls class Washington State University (WSU) Food Science Extension conducts come spring. “With this balanced schedule, our processors are not left hanging,” McGiverin says. “We make a point to not overlap our food safety efforts with those of the WSDA and WSU. Rather, we offer food safety programs at different times to ensure a broader reach to those we serve.”

“We work with state regulatory agencies and WSU to ensure food is safe for consumers,” McGiverin emphasizes. “Our efforts with these partners truly are collaborative, resulting in real value for our food processors.”

One such collaboration is the annual two-day Northwest Food Safety & Sanitation Workshop held each November. NWFPA participates on the 16-member stakeholder steering committee (which WSU heads), and sponsors the workshop.

Other co-sponsors of the sanitation workshop are the Oregon State University Extension Service and University of Idaho Extension. The workshop is held in cooperation with WSDA, the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, the Seafood Products Association (SPA), and the Western Association of Food and Drug Officials.

“The workshop benefits ‘boots on the ground’ people,’ and addresses basic sanitation, as well as cutting edge issues related to food sanitation and food safety,” Campbell explains, adding that it’s typically held at an airport hotel in Portland, Oregon, making it handy for all regional food processors, suppliers, and NWFPA members.

Girish Ganjyal, PhD, assistant professor and extension food processing specialist at WSU, Pullman, is a key organizer and instructor for the Food Safety and Sanitation Workshop, FSMA—Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCHF) Better Process Control courses and other food safety training programs in the State of Washington and the Pacific Northwest.

Dr. Ganjyal concurs with McGiverin and Campbell regarding the strength of food safety collaborations in Washington and beyond.

“We have strong collaborations in the region between WSU Extension, state regulatory agencies, the state FDA, industry associations, and companies of all types and sizes, in our efforts to make food safe for all,” Dr. Ganjyal boasts.

“In 2016 we are adding a new award to the sanitation workshop agenda, Best Line Worker,” Dr. Ganjyal mentions. “We all know that the line workers are the first line of defense in food safety. Our steering committee strongly believes that this award will be very important to help recognize the contributions that our line workers make to food safety.”

During the spring and summer of 2016, Dr. Ganjyal offered three 2.5-day FSMA-PCHF courses at rates highly subsidized by WSDA and WSU to keep costs down for local food processors.

“This is the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance course covering the new FDA requirements for Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls,” Dr. Ganjyal explains. “Thanks to the subsidy from WSDA, we were able to charge only $150 per person, instead of a more typical $600 to $1,200 usually charged for such training.”

Along with Dr. Ganjyal, instructors for the FSMA-PCHF courses include Claudia Coles, WSDA’s policy and external affairs advisor, who Dr. Ganjyal credits as a strong proponent of implementing FSMA in Washington and the Pacific Northwest, and WSU’s Stephanie Smith, PhD and Barbara Rasco, PhD.

Following these three courses, Dr. Ganjyal and the team offered another three FSMA-PCHF classes (held in July and August, with the third scheduled for the end of September), again in collaboration with the WSDA. “These additional three courses were offered with less subsidy at $400 per person,” Dr. Ganjyal says. “We constantly look for federal and state funding to assist our food processors of all types and sizes in the state and in the region.”