Evaluating Current Food Safety Training Programs and User Experiences with Food Safety Materials in the California Almond Industry

California produces approximately 80% of the world’s almonds. Food safety is essential for the California almond industry to protect consumers and maintain the industry’s reputation. The Almond Board of California (ABC) plays an essential role in developing and disseminating food safety materials to its stakeholders. This project was conducted to evaluate the current food safety training programs at California almond processing facilities, examine the food safety materials developed by ABC, and assess processors’ user experiences with these materials. Two studies were conducted: (i) 15 semistructured interviews with food safety managers at almond processing facilities and (ii) an analysis of 49 food safety materials identified from ABC’s website. All processors had various food safety training programs in place, with key advancements identified. However, three major barriers emerged: maintaining audience engagement, logistical challenges in delivering effective training, and differences in employee learning capabilities. Although participants valued ABC’s materials, they encountered difficulty in accessing them on the website. Recommendations for improving future materials included enhancing material accessibility, offering materials in video or PowerPoint formats, providing multilingual materials, incorporating more visuals, and collaborating with external consultants. These findings highlight processors’ current advancements and barriers in food safety training and offer insights for enhancing future materials to better serve the industry. Findings from the almond industry provide transferable lessons for other food commodities, where tailored and engaging training is vital to strengthening food safety culture.