The Food Safety Quality Assurance (FSQA) Program, formerly known as PQA, is for 4-H’ers planning to exhibit swine, beef, sheep, dairy animals, goats, poultry and rabbits at the Harrison County Fair or the Iowa State Fair.
All exhibitors must either attend a training meeting or test out!!!
This program is designed to teach youth the importance of raising livestock correctly to ensure a safe meat supply.
Did you know that 4-H'ers in Iowa raise over 17 million pounds of meat every year? That is just one of the reasons that this training is so important.
FSQA Training Will:
(1) Help you understand your role in the food supply chain.
(2) Educate you about the FSQA program and the importance of following a quality assurance program.
(3) Certify exhibitors to show swine, beef, sheep, dairy animals, goats, poultry and rabbits at the state and local level.
We have set-up two dates for FSQA training this year--you only need to attend one!
Thursday, March 6th @ 6:00 p.m.
or
Wednesday, March 19th @ 6:00 p.m.
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Each training will begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Harrison County Extension Office new meeting room, 304 East 7th Street in Logan. The training should last about 2 hours and will be hands-on as much as possible.
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A light supper will be served to participants to get things started, so if you are running a little late no big deal.
Note: If you miss these dates you can schedule a time later in May or June, but the free lunch is not offered. So make sure you attend one of the listed meetings.
Testing Out (versus attending FSQA training):
If you are between the ages of 12-18 (on January 1) you may choose to attend the training or study and test out. Most of our 4-H'ers 15 or older test out. The test out procedure will be discussed and the test will be offered to the appropiate age groups at these trainings for those interested.
Note: if you choose to test out, you are allowed to take the test three times per sitting and need at least 70% correct to pass and be certified. If you don't pass, no big deal. We will re-schedule a time later-on when you can take the test at our office.
If you do not test out of your age group then you must attend the annual FSQA training. Once the test is passed your certification will be good until you reach the next age level, for example when you advance from the 12-14 group (i.e. Junior 4-H'ers) to the 15-18 level (i.e. Senior 4-H'er) you will have to re-test or take the annual training.
All exhibitors ages 9-11 (on January 1) are required to attend the training in order to be certified and cannot test out. In Harrison County, this will include all Discovering 4-H’ers (third graders, or 8 years old).
If you are above the age of 12 and miss one/both of the training meetings you can take the test at the Extension Office. Call the office at 644-2105 to schedule a testing time or e-mail us at csgorham@iastate.edu.
Additional Information:
This event is provided to Harrison County 4-H'ers free of charge.
You may also attend a training event at another county, but do us a favor and report back to Carole or Dee so we can keep track.
Youth can no longer by certified by veterinarians.
Adults are welcome to attend, but cannot be certified by attending this training.
Please call the office to register for a training or to schedule a test-out time at 712-644-2105 or csgorham@iastate.edu .
Informational Links:
Why FSQA 2006 (pdf)
FSQA Web Listing of Tesing Dates/locations