# Kentucky Department of Agriculture Produce Safety Rule Compliance Plan

> **NIH FDA U18** · KENTUCKY STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE · 2020 · $185,083

## Abstract

1
Project Summary
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) proposes to explore and
establish a produce safety program in the Commonwealth of Kentucky through
the support of this U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) funding opportunity.
The KDA will seek the authority to conduct on-farm inspections in
Commonwealth of Kentucky on behalf of FDA and ensure that produce growers
of the Commonwealth are made aware of, trained as needed, and inspected as
required by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Final Rule on Produce
Safety: Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce
for Human Consumption (Produce Safety Rule) effective January, 2018. This
Kentucky produce safety program is intended to encourage the safe production
of fresh fruits and vegetables, to promote the understanding of the Produce
Safety Rule and to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Produce
Safety Rule by covered Kentucky entities. This cooperative agreement is to
establish and maintain a statewide program for farmer education, technical
assistance, development of an inventory of covered farms, and farm inspections,
after seeking authority under Kentucky law.
With the funding made available through this grant, KDA and its partner
organizations will conduct education, outreach, identification of covered farms
and technical support, while KDA will solely conduct activities associated with on-
farm inspections after KDA staff complete FDA-required training.
Through this program, KDA will conduct a state self-assessment and policy
changes to ensure a clear state regulatory foundation under Kentucky state law
(Kentucky Revised Statutes, or KRS), that is well-understood by regulators, the
regulated, and the produce community as a whole. KDA will pursue regulatory
authority for KDA to act as the lead agency with FDA credentials for the
implementation of the Produce Safety Rule. The education and outreach
conducted by the three partner agencies associated with this project will enable
the regulated community to better prepare for this federal regulation. The
support of both Competition A and Competition B will be necessary to fully
develop Kentucky’s plan for FSMA Produce Safety Rule implementation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9966760
- **Project number:** 5U18FD006459-03
- **Recipient organization:** KENTUCKY STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
- **Principal Investigator:** David Morris
- **Activity code:** U18 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** FDA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $185,083
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9966760

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9966760, Kentucky Department of Agriculture Produce Safety Rule Compliance Plan (5U18FD006459-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9966760. Licensed CC0.

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