West Virginia Department of Agriculture Offering Better Process Control School Feb. 21-22

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) will be hosting an Acidified Only Better Process Control School (BPCS) February 21-22, 2022 at Cedar Lakes Conference Center. BPCS is a course that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as well as the United States Department of Agriculture for processors of acidified and low acid canned foods. There is a $50.00 registration fee for the school and space is limited and will be on a first-come-first serve basis to the first 40 students. 

Producers who wish to sell acidified foods in retail settings must take a BPSC course. An acidified food (AF) is a low-acid food to which acid(s) or acid food(s) are added and which has a finished equilibrium pH of 4.6 or below and a water activity (aw) greater than 0.85. Those who only sell at a farmers’ market are not required to take this course. The school will be taught by Dr. Joseph E. Marcy, Department Head of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Registration will close on Friday, February 4 at 4 p.m. 

Funds for this project were awarded to the WVDA through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service, 2019 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. 

For questions related specifically to the BPCS please contact Leslie Boggess, Assistant Director of Programs, Agriculture Business Development lboggess@wvda.us or 304-558-2210.