Funds available to pay for costs of food safety certification - make sure to participate if you are eligible!

Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator, food safety

If you would like to sell your produce to a wholesale customer, you might be asked to get a GAP audit on your produce. This audit is a third-party verification of your on-farm food safety practices, often conducted by the MDA. This is a voluntary program, and the farm pays an annual fee to participate. Here are some programs to help offset the costs of those audits, if you choose to get them to sell your products.

What is a GAP audit?

As a reminder, a GAP audit is a voluntary program to verify your food safety practices on your farm. It is not a law and it is not a requirement that you participate. However, some buyers such as grocery store chains like Cub or Lunds/Byerlys or Whole Foods, or distributors like Russ Davis require an annual GAP audit on the product that you sell to them. You pay for the audit, often $800 dollars or more per year for the audit as long as you would like to keep the audit current. 

Some farm to school programs or hospitals or other institutions also require GAP audits.

For more information on how to get a GAP audit and what it costs, see this post.

Cost Share Programs for Food Safety

If you do choose to get an audit in order to sell to a market, make sure you take advantage of cost share programs intended to offset the costs of certification. Here are two programs that exist to help cover the costs of a GAP audit and the associated costs. 

Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops program from USDA/FSA

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) offers the Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops Program (FSCSC).  The FSCSC program provides financial assistance for specialty crop operations that have eligible on-farm food safety program expenses related to obtaining or renewing a food safety certification.

To be eligible for this program you must: 

• Be a specialty crop operation;
• Have obtained or renewed a 2024 food safety certification that was issued between June 26, 2024 and December 31, 2024 or
• 2025 food safety certification issued during calendar year 2025
• Have paid eligible expenses;
• Meet the definition of a small business or medium sized business

Eligible expenses include:

• Developing an initial food safety plan, maintaining or updating an existing food safety plan, food safety certification, certification upload fees, microbiological testing, and training.

Ineligible expenses include:

• Infrastructure improvements, equipment, supplies, salaries and benefits of employees, and fees or penalties for late payment.

Producers can apply for assistance on their calendar year 2024 expenses beginning July 1, 2024, through Jan. 31, 2025. For program year 2025, the application period will be Jan. 1, 2025, through Jan. 31, 2026.

To participate in this program, find your local FSA/USDA service center office here and contact them. They will send you the short forms needed to participate. 

For more information on eligibility, eligible expenses and how to apply, see the program webpage here. 

AGRI Good Agricultural Practices/Good Handling Practices Certification Cost-Share from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture

The MDA has a cost-share program that can reimburse you for up to 75 percent of the cost of a GAP audit once you have the audit certificate. Read more and apply for the cost share here.

To be eligible for this program you must: 

• Have a USDA GAP/GHP food safety audit certificate
• Certification was awarded in the current program year
• The address on your certificate is in Minnesota
• Farmers are eligible for this program for a maximum of three years

Eligible expenses include:

•  review, inspection, and administrative costs charged by the certifying agency.

Ineligible expenses include:

•  costs to prepare for certification, such as installing hand sinks and drains or hiring a contractor to oversee the plan.

Amount Available

• Certified growers and handlers are eligible to receive reimbursement of 75% of their GAP/GHP certification costs (maximum reimbursement of $2,000)

For more information, questions, or to schedule an audit, please call 651-201-6067 or visit the Fruit and Vegetable Inspections webpage.