Food Safety for Food Crop Producers After Flooding

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Food Safety at the Farmers Market

Tips to keep your produce and your consumers’ health safe at the farmers market

• Maintain potable water, hand soap, sanitizing gel and paper towels at the stand.
• Use sanitized equipment for food. Keep bags or containers to pack the products after sale.
• Keep food samples covered and protected. Store food items and containers at least 6 inches off the ground. Set up overhead protection.
• Wash your hands regularly. Do not smoke, drink or eat in the stand or around food. Keep display areas clean and sanitized.
• No pets. In many cases pets are carriers of microorganisms that can be transmitted to food through urine, feces or saliva.

Farm Food Safety Poster: ¿Qué tan limpias están

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The Farm

In this poster, different scenarios are presented about daily activities that take place on the farm. Some of these activities include good agricultural practices to ensure on-farm food safety, but others represent a potential high risk of contamination. This poster can be used for educational purposes during grower training classes to identify activities that represent higher risks of contamination and to develop practices to mitigate those risks.

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Protect Your Health and Your Crop

Practices to ensure on-farm food safety:

• You should not eat, smoke or go to the bathroom in the field or nearby.
• Hand washing must be performed with soap and potable water before and after each toilet, food or smoking break.
• Do not eat directly from the field or orchard. The crop may be contaminated by microorganisms or chemical residues that can affect your health.

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Protect Your Health and Your Crop

Farmers talking:

• Hey, Jane! Remember that we have to wash our boots before entering the packing area!
• Sure, Sam! I don’t want to cause cross-contamination after spending all day in the field.

Good practices in the packing area:

• Always wash your hands before entry to the packing area.
• If it is a requirement to wear gloves during grading, they must be disposable.
• Replace gloves after every break.
• If you have infected wounds, skin conditions, vomiting or diarrhea, avoid contact with produce as long as the symptoms exist.

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Wildlife and Domesticated Animals on the Farm

Wild and domesticated animals can carry human pathogens, such as E.coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, in their feces and can spread contamination around fields as they move. Monitoring wildlife activity throughout the growing season is helpful for preventing crop contamination and loss.

During the growing season:

• Monitor for feces and evidence of intrusion.
• Evaluate the risk of fecal contamination on produce.
• Consider past observations and wildlife attractants.

Immediately prior to harvest

• Monitor for fecal contamination and signs of animal activity, such as trampling, rooting, feeding or tracks.
• Assess risks and decide if the crop or the portion of the crop can be safely harvested.

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What To Do In Case of Animal Intrusion Before Harvest

Bird droppings

• Identify and flag the area where animal waste has been found.
• If visible animal waste is found in the fruit or edible part of the crop, that produce should not be harvested.
• Once the produce is identified with animal waste, check if the produce around has been contaminated by splashes. If so, it should not be harvested.

Damaged crop

• Identify and flag the area where the produce has been damaged, bitten or eaten by animals.
• The damaged produce must not be harvested.
• Identify whether there is animal waste in the area where the damaged produce is located. If so, the produce should not be harvested.

Animal footprints

• Identify and flag the area where footprints or traces have been found. Keep in mind that this is a potential area of contamination.
• It is important to know which animals are attracted by the type of crop that is in the orchard. This will help you more easily identify the traces of animal intrusion.
• Make sure there is no animal waste or urine in the area where the footprints were found. If so, the produce should not be harvested.

Feces in the growing area

• Identify and flag the area where animal waste has been found. Produce contaminated by animal waste should not be harvested.
• Consider crop characteristics when monitoring for animal waste. Tree crops and crops grown off the ground are less likely to be contaminated by small rodents and mammals because they do not grow where feces are likely to be deposited. However, resident bird populations or migrating flocks, such as crows, might be more likely to directly affect a tree crop.
• If you know you have a significant recurring wildlife issue and are concerned about fecal contamination of produce, consider practical methods to discourage wildlife in those areas.

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How Clean Are Your Hands?

Our hands can contain an enormous number of microorganisms, including bacteria, which cause diseases if we don’t wash them correctly. These photos show how contaminated our hands can be — even after washing them.

Wash your hands correctly

• Wet
• Soap
• Wash for 20 seconds
• Rinse
• Dry and turn off water with paper towel
• Hand sanitizer

This scale of color from red to green indicates the content of microorganisms that may be in our hands depending on how we wash them.

• Unwashed hands
• Washed hands just with water
• Washed hands with water and soap for 10 seconds
• Washed hands with water and soap for 20 seconds, dried on the cloth
• Washed hands with water and soap for 20 seconds, dried with disposable paper
• Washed hands with water and soap for 20 seconds, dried with disposable paper, hand sanitizer.

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Pick Your Own Farm Operations

• Wash your hands.
• Use clean containers.
• Don’t drink or smoke.
• Don’t pick if you are sick.
• No pets.
• Do not eat.

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Protect Your Health and Your Crop

Farmer speaking: ‘‘Should I wash my pitchfork before putting it in the barn?’’

Practices to ensure on-farm food safety:

• Clean all your work tools and work clothes before putting them away.
• Establish a rotation of cleaning. Clean green areas, crops, cattle areas and inside and around the stable.
• Do not cross-contaminate. Wash and disinfect your tools and work clothes before moving from a work area with farm animals to the crop area.

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Monitoring Wildlife Activity

Bird droppings

• Consider methods to prevent and minimize animal entry using fences, noise cannons or other deterrents.
• Reduce or eliminate animal attractants, such as standing water, cull piles and nesting areas.
• Monitor and document animal activity in the field.
• Do not harvest produce contaminated with feces. Check the area around the feces-affected produce and keep in mind that the splash can contaminate nearby produce.

During the growing season:

• Monitor for feces and evidence of intrusion.
• Evaluate the risk of fecal contamination on produce (tree vs. root crop, for example).
• Consider past observations and wildlife attractants.

Immediately prior to harvest:

• Monitor for fecal contamination and signs of animal activity.
• Assess the risk and decide if the entire crop or a portion can be safely harvested.

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From Farm to Market

Tips to avoid contamination during transportation:

• Do not transport animals and fresh produce at the same time.
• Before stowing the produce, make sure that there is no mud or farm waste remaining.
• Do not overload the truck.
• Place the produce in boxes or containers but not directly on the bed of the truck.
• All vehicles must be in good physical condition. They must also be dry with no dripping or standing water.