Media Contacts: Annette Dunlap, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Associate, Value-Added and Alternative Agriculture, 919.515.5969 or annette_dunlap@ncsu.edu, or Amie Newsome, Johnston County Extension Agent, 919.989.5380 or amie_newsome@ncsu.edu

A workshop for commercial fruit and vegetable growers that will focus on safe food handling and legal liability issues will be held April 23 at the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Johnston County Center in Smithfield. The registration deadline for the workshop is April 16.

The workshop is designed for fruit and vegetable growers who sell their produce at farmers’ markets and through pick-your-own operations. It begins at 6:15 p.m. with registration and ends at 9:30 p.m. The workshop cost is $15 per person, which includes dinner and materials. The event is sponsored by North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

Titled "Profitable Produce: A Workshop on Legal Liability and Handling Food Safely," the workshop will feature presentations by Dr. Lynn Turner, a professor of food science at North Carolina State University, Shirley Outlaw of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, and Ted Feitshans, an extension specialist in agricultural and resource economics at N.C. State University. Turner will talk about "Good Agricultural Practices for Raw Produce Handling," while Outlaw will discuss liability insurance and Feitshans’ topic will be avoiding liability lawsuits.

Registration and other information are available from Amie Newsome, Johnston County Extension agent, at 919.898.5380 or amie_newsome@ncsu.edu or from Annette Dunlap, Extension Associate, Value-added and Alternative Agriculture, at 919.515.5969 or annette_dunlap@ncsu.edu. Information is also available on line at extension’s value-added and alternative agriculture Web site, http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/value-added/

The Johnston County Extension Center, where the workshop will be held, is at 2736 NC 210 Highway.

North Carolina Cooperative Extension is an educational agency supported by county governments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and N.C. State and North Carolina A&T State universities. County agents, backed by specialists at the two land-grant universities, conduct educational programs related to agriculture and forestry, family and consumer sciences, 4-H, community and rural development and other issues.

- Dave Caldwell, 919.513.3127 or dave_caldwell@ncsu.edu -