Food Safety — Page 46 — Plant & Pest Advisory

On-Farm Food Safety Section

Keep up with the latest news on this dynamic topic that impacts growers on multiple levels. Developing a farm food safety plan is a good idea for all growers, and may be required as part of food safety audits if you sell to certain buyers.

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August 3, 2012 Meredith Melendez

Farm Food Safety: Farm Irrigation Waters, Animals, Previous Land Use

Part 9 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

– Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline

This is the ninth article in a series dedicated to preparing a farm food safety plan. Remember you may not need a third party audit; it depends on who is purchasing your produce. However, everyone should have a food safety plan.

The farm review is an overview of how you minimize the chance of contamination through irrigation waters, wild animals and past land use. This can be as simple as three paragraphs, one focusing on irrigation waters, the next on wild animal activity on the farm and the last on the previous use of the land. The following items should be included: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Food Safety

July 2, 2012 Meredith Melendez

Farm Food Safety: Compliance Documentation – Storage and Transport Logs

Part 8 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

– Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline

The USDA Good Agricultural Practices audit requires that certain activities on the farm be documented. These logs should accurately reflect what you have done on the farm to ensure food safety. If you do not write your activities down the auditor will assume that the activity never happened. This documentation may be new for many growers, so making it as easy as possible for you to comply will ensure that the documenting happens in a manner that is acceptable to an auditor. This is the eighth article in a series dedicated to preparing a farm food safety plan. Remember you may not need a third party audit; it depends on who is purchasing your produce. However, everyone should have a food safety plan.

Storage Temperature Log
Thermometer Calibration Log
Carrier Monitoring Log

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Food Safety

June 6, 2012 Meredith Melendez

Farm Food Safety: Compliance Documentation – Packinghouse Logs

Part 7 of Preparing Your Farm Food Safety Plan

-Meredith Melendez and Wes Kline

The USDA Good Agricultural Practices Third Party Audit requires that certain activities on the farm be documented. These logs should accurately reflect what you have done on the farm to ensure food safety. If you do not write your activities down, the auditor will assume that the activity never happened. This documentation may be new for many growers, so making it as easy as possible for you to comply will ensure that the documenting happens in a manner that is acceptable to an auditor.

Remember you may not need a third party audit; it depends on who is purchasing your produce. However, everyone should have a food safety plan.

What packinghouse logs will you need to have as a part of your farm food safety plan? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Food Safety