{"id":10905,"date":"2024-09-13T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T22:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=10905"},"modified":"2025-04-28T12:23:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T22:23:40","slug":"2025-hidoe-to-implement-nationally-accepted-usda-food-safetystandards-for-produce-suppliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/2025-hidoe-to-implement-nationally-accepted-usda-food-safetystandards-for-produce-suppliers\/","title":{"rendered":"HIDOE to implement nationally accepted USDA food safety standards for produce suppliers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HONOLULU \u2014 The Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education (Department) today announced an important update to its school meal program starting in the 2025-26 school year on July 1, 2025. To ensure that students receive consistently high quality and safe meals, the Department will begin implementing the USDA\u2019s Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Plus+ standards or the USDA GroupGAP Food Safety Program for all vendors providing raw or lightly processed produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis GAP certification that takes effect next year ensures that we have high-quality produce that&#8217;s healthy and great tasting for our students,\u201d Superintendent Keith Hayashi said. \u201cWe&#8217;re very fortunate that we have a partnership with the Farm Bureau and the Department of Agriculture that provides the support to local farmers in attaining that GAP certification. All of us working together ensures that we&#8217;re able to provide for our students healthy, nutritious, great tasting meals that students will enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This new standard is a key part of the Department&#8217;s ongoing commitment to student health and well-being, ensuring that the food served in Hawai\u2018i public schools meets the most stringent<br>safety guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What this new standard means for students and families:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Healthier meals<\/strong>: Starting in the 2025-26 school year, all farms that supply produce to the Department will need to be GAP certified. This certification is a mark of excellence in food safety, meaning that the produce served in schools will be sourced from farms adhering to the highest agricultural standards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Consistent quality<\/strong>: By partnering with GAP-certified farms, the Department will provide meals that are not only safer but also consistent in quality, ensuring that students receive nutritious and reliable food.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Streamlined food safety<\/strong>: The adoption of these standards will simplify and improve the Department\u2019s food safety protocols, making the processes for procurement and handling more efficient and secure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Department will be collaborating closely with its suppliers as they go through the GAP-certified audit process to ensure a smooth transition to the new standards. Food safety certification will be defined as the completion of a GAP audit by a USDA qualified inspector, with a favorable report and score. Vendors will need to schedule audits annually to maintain eligibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HONOLULU \u2014 The Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education (Department) today announced an important update to its school meal program starting in the 2025-26 school year on July 1, 2025. To ensure that students receive consistently high quality and safe meals, the Department will begin implementing the USDA\u2019s Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Plus+ standards or [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Chanel Honda","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/author\/chanel-hondak12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":305,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":305,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 06:08:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/haw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}