Produce safety alliance grower training knowledge assessment results

The Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training (GT) curriculum was developed to provide produce growers with training that meets requirements in §112.22(c) of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR). Four regional food safety centers evaluated course attendees’ knowledge change over four years (2019 to 2022) using a pre- and post-test quiz. Knowledge assessment results showed (a) respondents gained knowledge on each of the seven modules presented in the curriculum; (b) the curriculum content had a large effect on knowledge gain; (c) knowledge gain differed significantly between years, but the differences were not of practical importance; (d) remote participants learned significantly more than in-person participants, but differences were not of practical importance; and (e) the quiz consisted of low and moderate difficulty questions (no questions were high difficulty) and had generally acceptable discriminant properties. Implementation of the FSMA PSR has progressed from an educational to a regulatory phase, and the authors recommend replacing the knowledge assessment with a tool that measures how the PSA course prepares growers for compliance.