Produce Safety for School Gardens Training Program
The Department of Education and Workforce (the Department) received a 2024 Patrick Leahy Farm to School State Agency Grant awarded to the Department by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The objective of the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant, State Agency track, was:
To improve access to local foods in eligible Child Nutrition Program (CNP) sites through comprehensive farm to school programming that includes local sourcing and agricultural education efforts.
Purpose
School gardens are an increasingly popular way to engage students in growing fresh foods, learning about food systems, and connecting with agriculture and nutrition. School grown produce can be served in cafeteria meals, but schools often encounter challenges related to safe harvesting methods and limited food safety knowledge among students when incorporating garden produce into school meals.
The purpose of the Produce Safety for School Gardens program is to educate and prepare children in kindergarten through 5th Grade to grow and harvest school grown produce safely while increasing the confidence of school officials that fruits and vegetables grown on site can be safe for consumption, thereby increasing children’s access to school grown foods for both educational and wellness purposes.
The Program adapts the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training Course, currently used by the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) in their Produce Safety Alliance trainings, for kindergarten through 5th Grade students. The Program includes a Farm to School (K-5th grade) Garden Safety Toolkit, complimentary videos, corresponding picture book, Garden Food Safety Plan, and a series of farm to school standard operating procedures (SOPs) for bringing produce from the school garden to cafeterias and classrooms.
The Program’s toolkit includes lesson plans, sample PowerPoints, student assessments, and activity pages on the following six produce safety areas:
- Introduction to Produce Safety
- Student Health and Hygiene
- Soil
- Wildlife
- Water
- Harvest Handling and Sanitation
After learning about each topic, students use an incentive passport to mark their completion of the lesson. The student passports, stickers, and classroom picture books can be found in Digitial Materials below or ordered by schools in Ohio at no cost while supplies last.
How to Use the Training Program
Classroom
Materials provided are intended for educators and school garden coordinators to use when teaching students food safety principles around school grown produce. Materials cover both indoor and outdoor growing models and are appropriate for students exposed to a range of gardening activities, from greenhouses, windowsill gardens, hydroponics, or large scale school gardens. Each lesson is aligned to Ohio’s Learning Standards for Science and Social Studies and feature:
- Complimentary animated video
- Vocabulary
- Activities
- Student assessments
- Sample extensions
- Picture book summarizing key Program concepts
Cafeteria
Resources for school food service include a Garden Food Safety Plan to help schools organize and focus on produce safety when consuming student grown foods. The plan guides school staff in the prevention of foodborne illness to reduce food safety risks when consuming locally grown foods.
Cafeteria resources include SOP templates for:
- Receiving
- Storing
- Preparation
Teacher Training
Virtual teacher trainings will be available in early fall 2026 and recorded for future use.
Digital Materials
Classroom
Cafeteria
This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the view or policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
Last Modified: 8/13/2026 1:39:20 PM