# Establishing a Texas Produce Safety Program

> **NIH FDA U18** · TEXAS STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE · 2020 · $769,872

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Project Title: Establishing a Texas Produce Safety Program
Project Description: The overall purpose of this project is to establish a Texas Office of Produce Safety
to encourage the safe production of fresh fruits and vegetables and to promote compliance with the
requirements of FDA Regulation “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of
Produce for Human Consumption” commonly known as the Produce Safety Rule. The Texas
Department of Agriculture proposes to use funds allocated under a cooperative agreement to create the
necessary infrastructure and conduct grower outreach, education and inspections based on the FDA
Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
Project Goals: Establish a Texas Office of Produce Safety which will be responsible for the
implementation of FSMA in the State of Texas including collection of farm inventory data, training,
inspection and compliance.
Expected Outcomes: TDA expects to develop a program that is managed efficiently, captures the
targeted produce operations and provides consistent education and successful on-farm inspections.
Project Objectives:
1. Establish a process to develop and maintain a produce farm inventory;
2. Evaluate existing statutory and/or regulatory authority related to produce safety, and determine
 necessary changes supportive of the requirements in Produce Safety Rule;
3. Assess, plan and invest in program infrastructure including information technology and human
resources;
4. Provide education, outreach, and technical assistance to farming operations; and
5. Design and implement a compliance program for applicable produce safety regulations in Texas.
Five (5) Year Budget Total: $6,550,000 for Competition A and B.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9967811
- **Project number:** 5U18FD005894-05
- **Recipient organization:** TEXAS STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard De Los Santos
- **Activity code:** U18 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** FDA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $769,872
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-05 → 2021-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9967811

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9967811, Establishing a Texas Produce Safety Program (5U18FD005894-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9967811. Licensed CC0.

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