MSU Extension Agrifood Safety

Tried and true ways to make a food safety plan template work for you

Landen Tetil & Micah Hutchison | Michigan Produce Safety Technicians

For farmers who have never written a farm food safety plan, it may be an intimidating experience. Luckily, there are many organizations, including the Michigan On-Farm Produce Safety program, who have created a tool to help farmers get over this potential writer’s block: the Food Safety Plan Template. 

Templates are a great place to start when you’re not sure where to start. However, downloading a template and adding in your farm’s name is not enough to really say, “I’ve got a farm food safety plan!” Good templates are designed to be flexible and easily customizable to meet a farm’s unique needs, not so rigid that a farm needs to squish itself into it. The end-goal is a plan that accurately reflects your farm. Here are some of our best tips for making a template work for any farm. 

1. Choose the right template.

Good templates are designed to be flexible and easily customizable to meet a farm’s unique needs. Look for templates that are specifically designed to be customized. You should be able to easily add and delete sections as needed to make the plan reflect what you do on your farm.

2. Keep what you do

Review the template document and pay attention to sections of the template that apply to your farm, on-farm practices, and on-farm policies. Keep the pieces of the plan that fit your farm.

3. Delete the rest.

Delete portions of the template that do not apply to your farm, on-farm practices, or on-farm policies. Your food safety plan should be relevant to your farm and not include language or sections that aren’t relevant to your operation. Don’t run a u-pick business? Then you can delete that section of the template and work on the sections, policies, and topics that apply to your farm. 

4. Set realistic expectations.

Your food safety plan should reflect practices that you do on farm not the practices you wish you did. Use your best judgment, set realistic expectations, and write what you do and what you can do then write your farm’s practices in the plan. 

5. Update regularly.

Food safety plans are not meant to be a one-and-done document. Every year, or more frequently as changes are made to your farm, the food safety plan should be reviewed and revised so it stays up to date. A food safety plan that is outdated or no longer reflective of your farm is not very useful. 

Templates are a great way to get started on your journey writing your on-farm food safety plan. Finding the template that works for you and adapting it to your farm is an essential part of using templates. For more information or to access the Michigan On-Farm Food Safety Plan template, visit miofps.org.