Food Safety Outreach Program | USDA NIFA FSMA 010336

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA NIFA FSMA 010336

The Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP) is a discretionary grant opportunity offered by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under CFDA 10.328 (Funding Opportunity Number: USDA NIFA FSMA 010336). Its purpose is to strengthen and extend the national framework created through the broader National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Competitive Grants Program, with a clear emphasis on getting practical, customized food safety training and support directly to the people who need it most at the local level. In practice, FSOP is designed to expand the reach of food safety education and technical assistance so that smaller and often under-resourced operations can better understand and implement food safety practices, including those tied to current regulatory expectations and public health protections.

The program prioritizes projects that deliver hands-on training, education, extension activities, outreach, and technical assistance tailored to specific audiences. Those target audiences include owners and operators of small to mid-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially-disadvantaged farmers, small food processors, and small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. The core idea is not just producing general guidance, but translating food safety requirements and best practices into usable steps for day-to-day operations, accounting for the real constraints these businesses face (limited staff, tight margins, language and cultural barriers, and varying levels of baseline knowledge). Projects are expected to be grounded in community needs and structured to improve real-world adoption of safe growing, handling, processing, and distribution practices.

A major feature of FSOP is that it actively encourages applications rooted in local communities rather than only large national institutions. The solicitation anticipates proposals from community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations, food hubs, farm cooperatives, extension programs, and other locally connected groups that are positioned to reach farmers and small businesses where they operate. This approach reflects the program goal of sustained delivery: building ongoing capacity for training and assistance, not just one-time workshops, and ensuring materials and methods are adapted to the audience, including considerations like language access, literacy, and the specific commodities and production systems common in a region.

Eligibility is broad but specific. Applicants must fit at least one of the listed eligible entity types: a Cooperative Extension Service for a U.S. state or territory; a non-governmental organization and/or community-based organization representing farms, small processors, or small produce merchant wholesalers that demonstrates a commitment to public health and has relevant administrative and food safety program expertise; a federal, state, local, or tribal agency; an institution of higher education (as defined in Section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965) or an eligible university-maintained foundation; or a collaboration involving two or more eligible entities. Collaborations are explicitly allowed and can be a strong fit when local trust and access (for example, through a community group) can be paired with technical depth (for example, through extension or a university).

The opportunity includes several compliance and application integrity requirements that applicants need to take seriously. Applicants must meet all requirements laid out in the Request for Applications (RFA), and missing eligibility criteria by the deadline can lead to removal from consideration or prevent NIFA from issuing an award. The program also prohibits duplicate or multiple submissions: if the same Project Director/Principal Investigator submits more than one application, NIFA will disqualify both, so organizations need to coordinate internally and across partners before submitting.

In terms of funding structure, the award ceiling is up to $1,000,000 per award, with an expected 25 awards. The original closing date listed for this cycle is 2024-02-13, and the opportunity was created on 2023-12-05. Overall, FSOP is best understood as a capacity-building and implementation-oriented program aimed at improving food safety outcomes by equipping smaller farms and food businesses with tailored training and practical technical assistance delivered through trusted local and regional networks.

• The National Institute of Food and Agriculture in the agriculture sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Food Safety Outreach Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.328.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-12-05.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-02-13. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 25 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for USDA NIFA FSMA 010336

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