Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA FD 24 018
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is offering a single cooperative agreement under the opportunity titled "Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) - U01 (Clinical Trials Not Allowed)" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-FD-24-018). The central aim is to keep the Produce Safety Alliance operating as the national hub for produce safety education by continuing to deliver training and outreach that reflects current best practices, FDA guidance, and both current and emerging regulatory requirements. The program is designed to serve a broad mix of audiences connected to produce safety, including growers and packers, regulators, auditors, extension educators, and other stakeholders who influence on-farm and packinghouse food safety.
A major focus of the award is maintaining a standardized produce safety training system that works in multiple formats and multiple languages. The PSA is expected to help the produce industry and regulatory agencies implement the FDA Produce Safety Rule (PSR) by keeping training materials consistent, accessible, and aligned with the latest federal expectations. This includes updating the core standardized curriculum whenever new FDA guidance is published that affects the PSR, or if new PSR-related rulemaking changes what farms and packers are expected to do. The training is also expected to address the public health and environmental value of "co-management," meaning approaches that integrate food safety practices with environmental and conservation goals rather than treating them as competing priorities.
The opportunity also places strong emphasis on sustaining a national instructor network through a Train-the-Trainer system. PSA is expected to maintain the Train-the-Trainer curriculum so there is a reliable pipeline of qualified instructors across the country who can deliver PSA training consistently. This includes maintaining a Lead Trainer application and review process as well as a Trainer-of-Trainers process, and doing so in both English and Spanish. In practical terms, FDA is funding the infrastructure that keeps the PSA training model scalable, quality-controlled, and available to diverse audiences.
Beyond classroom instruction, the PSA is expected to provide direct educational outreach support to produce growers, packers, and grower cooperatives. The goal is to increase understanding of how on-farm and packinghouse food safety practices protect public health, with specific attention to Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), preventive controls, and co-management approaches for on-farm environmental considerations. This outreach component is meant to meet farms where they are, helping operations understand and apply practical steps that reduce contamination risks while keeping pace with regulatory expectations.
Another required component is a formal, ongoing evaluation of training effectiveness, treated as an applied research effort tied to continuous improvement. The PSA must collect and analyze data to measure course impact, trainer effectiveness, and whether participants are actually improving their understanding of the PSR and GAPs. The evaluation results are expected to feed back into course improvements and curriculum refinements. The PSA must also continually review existing outreach tools, identify gaps, and update or develop new resources when needed, which signals that FDA expects the alliance to actively manage not just a course, but a broader educational ecosystem.
The grant further calls for close engagement with FDA and partner organizations on produce safety education for international audiences. While the award cannot include foreign components as defined by HHS policy, the PSA is still expected to support international-facing efforts through collaboration and participation in activities such as grower trainings, produce safety summits, and other prevention-oriented educational events. This includes involvement in Trainer-of-Trainers trainings, maintaining the Lead Trainer application and review system, and mentoring international trainers, essentially extending PSA influence and consistency to produce safety education beyond U.S. borders without funding foreign institutional components directly.
A timely and specific deliverable is revising the standard PSA curriculum to respond to the final agricultural water rule. The PSA must build a strategy to deliver updated water-rule content not only to new trainees but also to growers, trainers, and other stakeholders who previously completed PSA training. The opportunity explicitly notes that training and outreach must be delivered in multiple languages, reinforcing FDA's expectation that PSA materials remain broadly usable across the diversity of the produce sector workforce.
From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary cooperative agreement, meaning FDA anticipates substantial involvement with the recipient compared with a typical grant. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 93.103, in the activity area of Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition. The application closing date was February 29, 2024, and FDA expects to make one award with an award ceiling of $5,000,000. Eligibility is tightly restricted: only Cornell University is eligible to apply. Foreign institutions are not eligible, non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components are not allowed under HHS policy. The "Clinical Trials Not Allowed" label indicates the award is not intended to support clinical trial activity, and the work is framed around training, outreach, curriculum maintenance, and program evaluation rather than human-subject clinical research.Apply for RFA FD 24 018
- The Food and Drug Administration in the agriculture, consumer protection, food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Produce Safety Alliance-U01 Clinical Trials Not Allowed" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.103.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2023-12-21.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-02-29. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Others.
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Previous opportunity: National Project to Support and Promote Consistent Implementation of the Regulatory Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption and Produce Regulatory Standards (PRPS) (U2F) -Cooperative Agreements
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| Funding Opportunity |
|---|
| FDA OMHHE Health Equity Innovation Award: Enhance Equity Funding Opportunity (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 022 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 022 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $250,000 |
| Identification and Evaluation of Possible Approaches to Addressing Nitrosamine Impurities in Drugs (U01) Here and Clinical Trial Designator - Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 020 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 020 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $350,000 |
| Strengthening Global Competency and Capacity in Inspectional Approaches for the Oversight of Human and Animal Pharmaceutical Products (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 026 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 026 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $150,000 |
| OMHHE Educational Funding Opportunity: Expanding education on skin lightening products (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 023 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 023 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $250,000 |
| Cooperative Agreement to Support a Human Abuse Potential Study of Botanical Kratom (U01 Clinical Trial Required) Apply for RFA FD 24 025 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 025 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $2,000,000 |
| Collaborations to Enhance Drug Development and Regulatory Science - Clinical Trials Optional Apply for RFA FD 24 029 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 029 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $5,000,000 |
| Critical Path Public Private Partnerships Clinical Trials Optional Apply for RFA FD 24 027 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 027 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $20,000,000 |
| Utilizing Real-World Data and Algorithmic Analyses to Assess Post-Market Clinical Outcomes in Patients Switching Amongst Therapeutically Equivalent Complex Generic Drug Products and Reference Listed Drugs (U01) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 007 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 007 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $300,000 |
| Developing PBPK Model-Based Mechanistic IVIVCs for Long Acting Injectable Suspensions and Implants (U01) Clinical Trial Optional Apply for RFA FD 24 006 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 006 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $300,000 |
| Evaluating the Cutaneous Pharmacokinetics of Topical Drug Products Using Pharmacokinetic Tomography (U01 Clinical Trial Required) Apply for RFA FD 24 008 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 008 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $250,000 |
| Integrating Machine Learning with Computational Fluid Dynamics Models of Orally Inhaled Drug Products (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 005 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 005 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $300,000 |
| Synthesis and Biological Activity Assessment of Different Diastereomers in siRNA Drug LEQVIO (Inclisiran) (U01) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 011 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 011 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $300,000 |
| Identification of Drug-related and Formulation-Related Factors that Result in Alcohol Dose Dumping of Modified Release Oral Drug Products (U01) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 010 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 010 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $250,000 |
| Novel Approaches to Support Therapeutic Development in Ultra-Rare Cancers (U01) Clinical Trial Optional Apply for RFA FD 24 038 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 038 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $500,000 |
| Advancing Conformance with the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS) by State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) Retail Food Regulatory Agencies (U19) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 033 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 033 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $15,000,000 |
| Development and Maintenance of Human and Animal Food Rapid Response Teams (U2F) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 032 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 032 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $360,000 |
| Flexible Funding Model-Infrastructure Development and Maintenance for State Manufactured Food Regulatory Programs (U19) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 039 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 039 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $340,000 |
| Drug Development Tools Research Grants (U01) Clinical Trials Optional Apply for RFA FD 24 030 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 030 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $500,000 |
| Cooperative Agreement for Long Term Data Collection on Antimicrobial Use in Animals (U01) Clinical Trial Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 031 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 031 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $200,000 |
| Alliance to Support the Activities of the Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS), including the Grade “A” Milk Safety and National Shellfish Sanitation Programs (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed Apply for RFA FD 24 034 Funding Number: RFA FD 24 034 Agency: Food and Drug Administration Category: Agriculture, Consumer Protection, Food and Nutrition Funding Amount: $6,000,000 |
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