Farm Food Safety: Training an Angry Mob

Robert HadadRegional Vegetable SpecialistCornell Cooperative Extension

Cornell Universityrgh26@cornell.edu

“You Want Us to Do What?”

Farm Food Safety

• GAPs – Good Agricultural Practices• HGAPs – Harmonized• Food safety practices to reduce risk on the

farm• Guidelines from USDA….

All They Heard Was… Government

“You Talking to Me?

• Responding to the needs of an audience• Fruit and vegetable farmers selling to large

retailers being told that it would be a good idea to be trained in GAPs

• USDA program was voluntary….and retailers suggesting it

• Huge resentment by growers• “What’s Wrong with Eating my Vegetables?”

Then 2006 Happened

The Media…

• "It's a good thing I had a bag of Marijuana instead of a bag of spinach. I might be dead by now.“ – Willie Nelson

Voluntary to Mandatory

• By mid-fall 2006 major buyers in NY and elsewhere started to demand GAPs certification

• We developed a workshop• Provided farm food safety basics to help them

write the required food safety plan

Tried to Do it All in One Day…

Back to the Drawing Board

• Workshop never got past the shouting match• Decided to revise our teaching methods• Full emersion into farm food safety• New approach – Food Safety Everyday not

Food Safety for One Day • Getting beyond the mandatory mentality

Retooled Curriculum

• Applied/received NECRME grant “Reducing Risk for Produce Growers Through Farm Food Safety Workshop Training”

• Created curriculum &farm food safety plan template

• Workshops would be two days back to back• Day One: understanding microbial

contamination and how to assess and reduce risk

Farmer Testimonials

Day 2

• Day Two: help farmers to write their food safety plans based on what they learned from Day One

• Only allow attendees from a Day One to participate in a Day 2

• Run a “mock” audit on-farm for attendees to see what the auditors see

Day Two

Benefits for Farmer

• Rather than hype the mandatory aspects of what buyers want, focus on positives

• Benefits of opening doors to more markets• Produce quality improvements• Building on the common sense of what

growers already doing• Divide up the production and packing aspects

of growing produce into segments

Assess: Where are the RisksActions: How to Minimize Risks

• Worker training• Health and hygiene• Manure and compost• Irrigation water• Domestic animals and wildlife• Post-harvest water usage• Transportation• Traceability

“Once Upon a Time…”• Most importantly, created an introduction• Real brief intro to microbiology• Highlight the outbreak and illness data

FDA-regulated foods linked to reported illnesses, 1996-2006 (N=23,428 illnesses)

FDA-regulated foods linked to reported outbreaks, 1996-2006 (N=454

outbreaks)

Produce Safety Challenges• Microbial contamination on produce is extremely

difficult to remove once present – Rough surfaces, folds, crevices– Bruises, cuts, stem scars

• Contamination is often sporadic and difficult to detect

• Fresh produce is often consumed raw • Some pathogens have low infective dose

How Fresh Produce Gets Contaminated

What Can We Do To Minimize the Risks?

• Focus on risk reduction, not risk elimination.• “Current technologies cannot eliminate all potential food safety hazards associated with fresh produce that will be eaten raw.”

- Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Tie the Concepts to What Farmers Know

• PREVENTION is the Key to Reducing Microbial Contamination of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

• Scouting• Put food-borne pathogens in the same

mindset as plant disease management

September 2011

CDC: “34 dead in listeria cantaloupe outbreak”

“What’s it Going to Cost Me?”

• Pulled together our training evaluations.• Created a new survey for past participants to

see where they are• Try to figure out economics

Evaluations

• Included evaluations for Day One and Day Two

Some Results

• Evaluations completed by participants on the first day of the GAPs trainings indicated that 13% of participants had a written farm food safety plan. By the end of day two, 48% of participants report having 50-100% of their farm food safety plans written. At the end of day two, participants were asked if they would recommend the training to others. Of those who completed the evaluations, all except one say they would recommend the training to others, with the one individual reporting “maybe”.

• The three top reasons growers report for implementing GAPs are their personal commitment to food safety (24%), maintaining market access (20%), and reducing liability (17%).

Economics

• Over time figure out economics of implementation vs benefits

• Grower survey• Thirty five (43%) growers reported

maintaining sales valued from $14,000 to $2,000,000, while 14 (16%) growers reported expanded sales valued at $15,000 to $300,000.

New Trainings Filling Up

New Grant Project

• “Assessing and Minimizing Risk of Microbial Contamination in Fresh Produce for Small Farms through Hands-on Training and Follow-up”

Follow Up

• Hurdles for some farmers – get hung up on sections but don’t ask for help

• Through calls, emails, visits – maintain connections to keep momentum going

• Collaborating with other states to improve outreach

• Northeast Post-Harvest Research & Education working group

No Respect