By Clint Thompson
Food safety should remain at the forefront of minds of fruit and vegetable producers. That’s a point of emphasis for Elena Rogers, N.C. State Extension Area Specialized Agent in fresh produce food safety.
She believes growers should acclimate themselves to the dangers posed by food-borne illnesses so the risks can be mitigated on the farm and at packing facilities.
“Educate themselves about the true risks and hazards that can happen at their farm based on the crops they grow and based on the environment they’re growing in. That’s probably the first thing; once you understand the practices,” Rogers said. “The other thing is to train the workers, anyone who works around the farm, packinghouse or a processing facility so that you can really build a food safety culture.”
Packinghouse Facilities
Packinghouse facilities should be regularly cleaned and sanitized to prevent contamination on any fruit or vegetable that has just been harvested.
“For any growers that manage packinghouses, they need to know that with operating packinghouses, make sure that they are really looking at their equipment; looking at their wash systems; making sure that you have a sound cleaning and sanitation program,” Rogers said. “You’re assessing that equipment to make sure that it can be easily cleanable. Recognize that no packinghouse, no manufacturing facility is going to be perfect. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to improve your processes.”
Rogers provides educational programs, training and technical support that focuses on fresh produce safety to agents and growers in Western North Carolina.
“We need food safety practices. We need everyone to understand that, because basically that correlates to protecting public health. We know that conditions at farms, the environment, they can very easily lead to food-borne illness,” Rogers said. “We want to prevent that.
“I would say with the lessons we have learned from past outbreaks, there is more awareness of the need to implement food safety practices. That is one of the reasons you see more news about food safety, is because we have better ways now to communicate if issues have happened with outbreaks or recalls.”