VAFMA September eNews

Save These Dates
New Food Safety Regulation
Food System Financing
Shenandoah Ag Enterprise Center
Food Justice Film Festival
Impact of COVID-19 Survey 

New Food Safety Regulation May Impact You

VDACS Food Safety has adopted and is enforcing a new regulation that may impact some farmers market vendors in the Commonwealth. ALL FACILITIES, no matter the commodity or size, must comply with Subpart A and Subpart B.

The new regulation replaces 21 CFR 110 Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Human Food, more commonly referred to as the GMPs.

VDACS has summarized what you need to know as a food manufacturer or warehouse in Virginia in this announcement.

The regulations address food safety training, prevention of allergen cross-contact, human food by-products used for animal foods, record keeping, temperature controls, food safety plans and more.

The full regulation can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/ybz4sfbo.

Are you a farmer interested in gaining access to new markets? Are you a food business owner who’s looking for ways to expand your business? Or maybe you have a great idea, ready to launch but need the space to produce your goods? The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission wants to hear from you.

Take this survey in order to provide input in the feasibility study of a certified, commercial shared-use Agricultural Enterprise Center– they need your input to make sure it’s meeting the needs of your business and community.

They are looking to hear from farmers, food buyers and food businesses in Central Shenandoah Valley. To learn more about the project, visit the study website.

Food Justice Film Festival Starts Today

The Center for Biological Diversity will host a free virtual Food Justice Film Festival Sept. 24-27 featuring the award-winning films Gather, The Invisible Vegan, Dolores and Urban Roots. Each film explores the links between environmental justice, climate change, food insecurity and white supremacy.

The Food Justice Film Festival is free and open to the public. Participants can sign up to receive a link unlocking access to each film for 24 hours on the day of its screening at: FoodJusticeFilmFestival.com.

Virginia farms and agribusinesses are invited to participate in a study to assess and quantify the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on your farm or business. The purpose of this survey is to understand the effects of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Virginia commercial farms and agribusinesses throughout the Commonwealth.

This survey should take no more than 20 minutes of your time to complete. They will invite you to participate in this study on two additional occasions (in December 2020 and March 2021) in an effort to capture the evolving effects of COVID-19 throughout 2020.

Please consider participating in the follow-up surveys to help them better understand the impact COVID-19 has on your agricultural operations. No personal information (name, address, e-mail, telephone number, IP address, etc.) will be collected. All data from this survey will remain confidential and anonymous.

https://virginiatech.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7WdG94s76jTlHwx

This survey is being conducted by Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension. If you would like a copy of the summary results, or have any questions about this study, please contact John Bovay (bovay@vt.edu) or Catherine Larochelle (claroche@vt.edu).

If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, or concerns or complaints about the research, you may contact the Virginia Tech HRPP at 540-231-3732 or irb@vt.edu and reference 20-617.