FOOD SAFETY ON THE FARM

                As we get more and more 24/7 news, it appears that we continually hear about another food recalls. It is on the top of millions of minds of American people. To reduce or minimize the chances of getting food poisoning, certain safeguards are being put in place to protect the various segments of the farm to fork continuum. The emphasis is on “third party audits”. This is where someone who buys produce from farmers requires a third or independent person to audit your farming operation to determine if your operations and procedures are minimizing the chances of food poisoning. The audits are so designed to effectively determine if your operation is performing those food safety programs that are shown to minimize the probability of a recall or worse yet, a food-borne outbreak.  The overall principles are called GAP which stands for “Good Agricultural Practices”. These are basically things like making sure any kind of fecal matter whether it be from manure, harvest employees, livestock, wildlife, sewer system etc, does not in any way come in contact with the produce. There are a few other things but the bacteria present in fecal material such as E coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella are responsible for the vast number of produce recalls. There are several programs by private auditing companies like Primus, Safe Quality Foods , BRC, etc. The USDA also has a program.  If you sell directly to a store, you are probably required to have it to protect the store from lawsuits.

 

            HOW TO GET CERTIFIED

For a list of the various types of GAP audits and assistance on writing food safety plans, please go to the following website; Click here