PARIS —  University of Maine Cooperative Extension will offer a free workshop about the Food Safety Modernization Act via video conferencing at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 1, at the UMaine Extension office, 9 Olson Road.

Ben Tettlebaum, a Rhodes Fellow with the Farm and Food Initiative at the Conservation Law Foundation Maine, and Dave Colson, a farmer from Durham and director of agricultural services at Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, will make presentations.

Annually, about 3,000 people in the United States die and 128,000 are hospitalized due to food-borne diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FSMA, signed into law in 2011, seeks to build in prevention throughout the food safety system and requires farmers to incorporate steps to avoid food contamination.

The FDA is accepting public comments about FSMA through Dec. 15; computers will be available at the workshop to send suggestions to the FDA.

For more information, to register or request a disability accommodation, contact Katelyn Duval, 743-6329, [email protected].