Good Agricultural Practices for Produce Growers

Transcription

1 Hello. This is Laurie Hodges, Horticulture Extension Specialist at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. This presentation is on Good Agricultural Practices for Vegetable Growers, practices that reduce the potential for microbial contamination of our fresh vegetables. Growers

2 This information is required. Growers

3 Growers of fresh produce, regardless of the amount grown or sold, are part of the fresh produce supply chain. Each person involved in the produce supply chain needs to be conscious of possible contamination that may result in illness in the consumer and take steps to minimize the possibility of foodborne illness.. Growers

4 Food safety begins on the farm. From planting through harvesting, packing, cooling, and shipping, there are steps that can be taken to minimize potential contamination with food-borne human pathogens. Growers

5 Growers There are a few principles that provide the base for all programs involving food safety for fresh produce. The first is that removing or killing pathogens on fresh produce is very difficult once the produce is contaminated. Therefore, preventing contaminating is strongly favored over any treatment to eliminate any contamination that may have occurred. Preventive procedures should occur at each step in production through distribution to the customer. Regardless of how simple or complex your prevention program is, it is essential to document the implementation of the program, the monitoring of the program, and the food safety education of workers at all levels of the production and packing environment.

6 Growers The basic outline for developing Good Agricultural Practices are to First Identify points or procedures where there is potential to compromise food safety, increasing the risk of contamination by microbes or farm chemicals. These are places where YOU can prevent, eliminate, or reduce the hazard. Next, establish corrective actions and monitor to ensure that these practices are followed consistently. The thirdly, set up a system to document and verify that the procedures are being followed. This shows that you are aware of the potential hazards and are concerned about providing safe food to your customers.

7 The most basic step is worker sanitation and good hygiene. No one that has a cold or fever, diarrhea, or an open wound should handle fresh produce and certainly should not be at the farmers market selling produce. This is just common sense. For a small hand wound, a glove can reduce the potential for contamination. A band-aid is not sufficient to exclude contamination. Growers

8 The first step in developing a plan for Good Agricultural Practices on your farm is to look carefully at where you plant your vegetable crops. The site should not be where it could receive dust or run-off from areas where animals are kept. Look at the site during heavy rains for drainage patterns and consider what would happen in the case of a flood. Would the field be compromised with possible microbial contamination? Consider wind-blown dust from neighboring areas, especially if there are any animal confinement areas nearby. Wildlife also can increase the risk of microbial contamination. Of course, any manure should be kept as far away from produce as practical. Consider your equipment, how it is used and where it is stored. Before it is used in vegetable production fields, it should be thoroughly washed to remove any soil or animal droppings. Growers

9 Creating compost for future application to production fields is excellent, just be sure to keep the compost pile away from fresh produce, especially if any manure is used in the composting process. Any compost containing manure must be thermally composted to destroy pathogenic bacteria and fungi in the compost. This is done by using an aerobic composting method so that the compost reaches a temperature of 135 to 160 F. The pile must be turned or flipped to ensure that all the material in the pile is subjected to these temperatures, both the inside and outside of the pile. Also be sure that the finished compost is not re-contaminated by rodents, wildlife, or birds. If you do use manure or manure based compost, be safe and don t apply it to a field within 17 weeks of harvest. If raw manure is used that has not been thermally composted, it is best to apply it in the fall and immediately incorporate it into the soil so that it is thoroughly decomposed before spring planting. Growers

10 Moving equipment between fields and storage buildings presents opportunities for pathogens to be carried from place to place. A tractor often is used in fields that have had manure applied or that have had animals in them and also used in vegetable production areas. It is important that equipment be cleaned between fields or after storage to remove soil and any animal droppings. Be sure that plastic mulch and irrigation equipment is not stored where will be exposed to dust from animal confinement areas, rodents, snakes, or birds. Growers

11 Growers Irrigation water is a potential source of contamination, especially if the water is from a well, river, lake, or pond. If using water from any of these sources, it should be tested at least every other year and preferably every year for E. coli. Keep the test results on file. Generally, drip irrigation is considered less risky than sprinkler irrigation since the irrigation water doesn t contact the plant leaves or fruit. If you do use aluminum pipe, it should be cleaned out before being moved to the field. Rabbits and various other creatures like to hide in aluminum pipe and you want to wash out any droppings that might be in the pipe. There are minimum distances required between a well and possible sources of contamination. For example, if you have a septic system, there must be at least 10 feet between the well and any depressions that retain stagnant water or any watertight sewer lines. A distance of at least 50 feet is required between an irrigation well and any septic tank, non-watertight sewage lines (the septic system or sewage distribution field) as well as any stream, lake or surface water. The well or water source must be 100 Feet from seepage pits, cesspools, tile

12 Growers files, privies or other subsurface disposal systems, feedlots, trench silos, chemical or petroleum storage areas Toilet and hand washing facilities are required in the field in Nebraska if you have a total of eleven or more workers at any time during the season, including yourself and family members. It is easy to rent portable toilets with hand washing facilities. You can make your own hand washing area with a cooler that allows the water to run freely, some liquid soap, and single use paper towels. Workers need to wash their hands with soap and water before they begin working in the field and after each break. Even if gloves are used during harvesting, handwashing is still essential, especially after rest breaks.

13 Even if you don t have a number of employees, it would be beneficial to have a hand washing station in the field or on the truck. There are many commercial units available. You can see the portable toilet with hand washing facility for $2000. The smaller unit was developed by a North Carolina grower and is easy to operate without having your dirty hands touch anything as it is foot operated. Growers

14 There are many suppliers of commercial handwashing units. Here are some examples from the Gempler s catalog. They offer these units made by Scrubngo. The least expensive is basically a plastic clip that holds the push-in spigot tab in so the water flows freely and a soap holder. You supply everything else. The towel should be a single use towel, not a cloth. Growers

15 Chemical contamination is as much a hazard as microbial contamination. When cleaning equipment, consider where the water is draining. It is a good idea to use water from a potable water source in the spray tank, again, to reduce the potential for microbial contamination that may be in stream, pond, or lake water. Growers

16 When crops are planted or transplanted, consider the cleanliness of the equipment. If tomato cages or tomato stakes have been stored in the barn, hose them off before taking them to the field. Growers

17 Harvest containers should be cleaned thoroughly both inside and out at the end of each day. If there is any soil on the outside or bottom of the bucket, then it contaminates the inside the next bucket when they are stacked. Workers need to wash their hands before they start harvesting and should have short fingernails. If a fingernail punctures a vegetable, then that vegetable needs to be discarded immediately and not put into the bucket with the undamaged fruit. Many growers now use rubber gloves while harvesting tender vegetables to reduce potential contamination and the problem of fingernail punctures. Growers

18 The packing area is especially important in developing Good Agricultural Practices. Hands should be washed before starting to work and after each break. All equipment should be cleaned and sanitized at the beginning and end of each shift and between each crop. Change wash water frequently to reduce soil and pathogen levels. Chlorine is often used to disinfect produce before it is packed. Test strips and monitoring equipment are available so that chlorine levels can be maintained at 125 ppm of active chlorine. Since chlorine is inactivated by soil and debris in the water, the initial wash water should be changed often. Rinse water can be recycled as wash water. Growers

19 Growers Packing containers should be new and not stored in such a manner that they may become contaminated by rodents or birds. Keep records with the harvest date, packing date, the name of the farm, and who handled the crop at each stage. This is important because it allows a person to identify who handled the crop if a problem develops after the crop leaves your farm or if someone who handled the crop later develops symptoms that could pose a hazard. If ice is used, it must be from a potable water source not all ice is fit for human consumption. Check your source. At the end of the day, wash down and sanitize the packing line, tables, and floors. Coolers should be cleaned and sanitized on a regular basis and this should be documented.

20 Before loading the truck (which should be clean) and heading for market, wash your hands, then load the truck. Wash again and drive to the market. Set up the display tables and then wash your hands before handling the fresh produce. Avoid touching your face, mouth, or nose during the market. Many growers find that using a disposable glove on the hand that handles the produce reassures customers that you care about the safety of their food. The un-gloved hand is then used to handle the money. If a mistake is made and the gloved hand is used to touch anything other than the fresh produce, that glove needs to be discarded and a fresh one put on. Disposable gloves can be found at most drugstores or through hospital supply companies. At the end of the day, the truck should be thoroughly cleaned to remove any spilled or rotten produce. Vegetable juices can feed bacteria and mold that may be unseen but still pose a risk. Growers

21 When a crop is finished, the field should be cleaned up and all equipment cleaned before storage. Irrigation lines should be flushed with chlorinated water or dilute acid to remove any algae or fertilizer residues. Growers

22 Growers Documentation is a key component of Good Agricultural Practices. It is especially important to document all use of manure on the farm. You ll want to have records showing where you obtained the manure, what equipment you used to transport it to the field, when and how it was applied, when and how it was incorporated into the soil, when and how the equipment was cleaned afterward. These records should be kept on file. Water test results should always be kept in a file. You also will want to document the training programs you have on proper procedures and sanitation measures that you have implemented to reduce microbial risk. This sounds intimidating but it only means that when you have a meeting with your family and any employees to go over these procedures, you write down who attended, the date, and what topics were discussed. This document also needs to be put into a file. These records provide important data to indicate that you HAVE taken steps to minimize chances of contamination on the farm. They also highlight your commitment to reducing microbial risks associated with fresh fruits and vegetables.

23 Growers This concludes the overview of Good Agricultural Practices. I hope you learned some of the possible risk points in the production and marketing chain as well as a few of the possible practices to reduce these risks. Additional resources are on the following slides. As it says, let there be no holes in your GAPS since Food Safety Begins on the Farm!

24 Growers These two publications are available through the website for Nebraska extension publications or your county extension office. I encourage all produce growers to refer to these often. The first one, G2020 "Good Agricultural Practices for Food Safety of Fresh Produce," has a series of check lists you can refer to when developing your own on-farm food safety The second one is more focused on food safety at the market itself and is essential for anyone selling breads or other cooked or processed products, or meats, dairy, eggs, fish, or poultry.

25 For more details about the voluntary GAPs program or how to have your enterprise audited, or for a copy of the Food and Drug Administration's Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for fresh fruits and vegetables, go to the link below. You can also download a copy of the form that the auditor will use if you request an audit or if you just want more details about risk mitigation. Growers

26 Growers The national resource page for GAPs educational materials is at the Cornell website shown. Much of the material is available in several languages as well as posters to remind everyone about proper hygiene. Again the FDA websites are very helpful when you are developing your own GAPs plan as is the UCDavis webisde. Lastly I included an example found on the Internet of the GAP plan for a large produce company. The national resource page for GAPs educational materials is at the Cornell website shown. Much of the material is available in several languages as well as posters to remind everyone about proper hygiene. Again the FDA websites are very helpful when you are developing your own GAPs plan as is the UCDavis webiste. Lastly I included an example found on the Internet of the GAP plan for a large produce company.

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28 To have your water tested, contact the Nebraksa Department of Health and Human Serices in Lincoln. Growers

29 Here is a review of the distances required between a water source and possible sources of contamination. Growers

30 Growers I hope you've found the material helpful in understanding the process to develop a manual of Good Agricultural Practices for your own farm. If you have additional questions, feel free to contact me or seek the assistance of your local extension office. Thank you for your time and interest in the GAPs program. This information was verified as current on 21 December Farm food safety guidelines as described may change or become legally enforceable regulations in the future. For specifics on current requirements, contact your local county extension office.