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Serving As Suppliers To Institutional Foodservices: Supply Chain Considerations Of Small And Medium Scale Specialty Crop Producers, Laura Westray

All Theses

Institutional foodservice, which includes schools, hospitals, and long-term care facilities, is an important food marketing channel. The centralized nature of the US food system effectively, and supply, logistic and other constraints, effectively precludes small and medium scale (SMS) specialty crop producers from serving as suppliers to these types of operations. Passage of The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and increasing public attention to food safety issues, further complicates this matter. While the FSMA Tester-Hagen Amendment provides regulatory exemptions for SME producers, it is likely that in the future food purchases on or behalf of institutions will require more stringent food …