CASTROVILLE, CA – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hosted a custom training session at Ocean Mist Farms’ headquarters in Castroville, California. More than 45 staff members from five departments participated.
Arlin Valenzuela, Ocean Mist Farms Quality Assurance Manager, invited the USDA to come and train the staff on the ways in which the agency inspects and grades product at both shipping and receiving, according to a press release.
“The session was highly beneficial and allowed our team to better understand our specifications compared to the USDA’s and any variations between the two,” Valenzuela said. “It supports our culture of quality and our strategic initiative to consistently innovate our product quality assurance specifications and procedures.”
Throughout the training session, several of the more than 30 commodities that Ocean Mist Farms grows were specifically reviewed in depth. Staff members from field harvesting, quality assurance, food safety, sales and senior management were all in attendance. The training session was designed to enhance consistency and reliability of product inspections, benchmarked to USDA specifications at all levels companywide.
Valenzuela said that the USDA rarely holds custom training sessions at a company’s headquarters. Mike Morelli, Senior Training Specialist, and Dave Horner, Standardizations and Master Trainer, conducted the training for the USDA.
It's always good to see produce companies take the initiative to enhance product quality assurance.
