Assessing Risks and Implementing Food Safety Practices: Developing an On-Farm Decision Tree for Fresh Produce Growers

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Fresh fruits and vegetables are healthy and nutritious foods. The amount of fresh produce individuals need to consume depends on their age, gender, and physical activity, but most people are familiar with the notion that they should consume at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetable each day. Since most fruits and vegetables are grown outside in the soil under open skies, they could become contaminated with microorganisms (germs) that could make people sick when they consume the fresh produce. Preventing contamination requires that fresh produce growers understand food safety risks and put practices in place such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) that reduce these risks. Identifying and controlling food safety risks is a complicated undertaking because contamination of fresh produce in the field can come from many sources, including water, soil and soil amendments, workers, wildlife, and adjacent land. Currently, most educational programs and guidance documents outline these risks but do not assist growers with understanding and prioritizing them in terms of what risks should be mitigated first. This educational research component of this project focuses on the development of on-farm decision trees that growers may use to assess their own unique operations to identify food safety risks then prioritize the implementation of practices that would most effectively reduce the risk that have been identified. The decision trees also will help growers develop a written farm food safety plan so that they can document their food safety practices. A documented food safety plan is required by some produce buyers so this allows growers to maintain and grow their markets. The extension component will focus on conducting workshops for extension educators and fresh fruit and vegetable growers, particularly small and medium scale growers, including Amish, organic, and direct-to-market growers to teach them how to utilize the developed decision trees.

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APPROACH: Research Objective 1: Develop an on-farm decision tree that can be used by fresh produce growers to assess microbiological, chemical, and physical risks present while producing, harvesting, and packing fresh fruits and vegetables, prioritize GAPs implementation to utilize limited resources most effectively, and develop a written farm food safety plan. An on-farm decision tree will be developed that covers diverse areas of production including worker training, adjacent land evaluation, wildlife management, irrigation water management, soil amendment use, field sanitation, postharvest water management, packinghouse sanitation and pest control. Additionally, it is anticipated that niche areas will also be covered such as farm markets, community sponsored agriculture, and pick your own operations. Objective 2: Convene six working groups of growers, harvesters, packers, and other agricultural professionals to test and evaluate the on-farm tool. The developed on-farm decision tree will be tested with regional working groups of fruit and vegetable growers to address differences in the stages of GAPs implementation, production systems (e.g., organic, conventional, etc.), growing environments (e.g., water sources, topography, etc.) and growing practices (e.g., bareground, plastic-mulched, raised beds, staked, etc.). The goal of these sessions will be to review the on farm decision tree content, verify production practices are accurately addressed, and identify messaging that is easily understood particularly for those not previously experienced in performing risk assessments. Extension Objective 3: Create a dynamic, online decision tree to be included on the Good Agricultural Practices Network for Education and Training (GAPsNET) This online version will allow fresh produce growers to work through the decision tree one topic area at a time. After completing each assessment area, the online tool will collect their responses into a working assessment document. Growers will be able to progress through multiple topic areas to create a comprehensive final document that allows them to review the results of all topic areas that they have completed. Objective 4: Conduct 8 train-the-trainer workshops throughout the US to propagate use of the on-farm decision tree. Educational materials will be designed to support the implementation of nationwide train-the-trainer workshops. A significant effort will focus on reaching extension educators because they work directly with growers and are a trusted source of information. Workshops will not be limited to extension educators, but also will be open to farm consultants, crop advisors, and other who work directly with fresh produce growers as well as fresh produce growers themselves. After attending a train-the-trainer workshop, participants will be able to use and assist growers with using the decision tree to evaluate their operations and prioritize the implementation of GAPs to reduce the most significant risks on their farms.