The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) recently announced recipients of the 2022-2023 Food Safety Education Fund grants for food safety training for the food industry and education and outreach for consumers.
MIFMA has been awarded $68,957 for a twelve-month statewide consumer food safety education outreach project. This project, first developed and executed for the 2022 farmers market season, will allow MIFMA to connect with markets to implement food safety programming in a way that fits the needs of their community. Potential resource topics include safe food sampling, cooking demonstrations, cooking at home with fresh farmers market products, and other relevant matters as requested by farmers market managers.
When executed for the 2022 market season, MIFMA received 20 applications from farmers market managers seeking funding to implement food safety educational programming at their farmers market. Of those, we were able to support nine markets with funding from this grant program, totaling $6,500 awarded to these markets. During this time, it was clear that there was a greater need for food safety education in farmers market settings. This consumer-facing project will expand upon last year’s efforts and will help connect more markets with food safety programming and materials based on their community’s needs during the 2023 farmers market season.
You can learn more about the 2022 project and its impacts here.
“These grants are integral for helping train Michigan’s food and agriculture industry to maintain the safety, nutritional value, and quality of food throughout the food chain,” said MDARD Director Gary McDowell. “The education provided to consumers through these grants helps assure awareness of food safety and the role each of us plays in keeping our food supply safe and wholesome. Both are important in protecting public health and growing Michigan’s food and agriculture economy.”
To read the entire press release, click here.