Holiday Wish List for Food Safety

By Taylor O’Bannon, William Mitchell, Morgan Madison, Stephanie Brown, Keith Schneider and Michelle Danyluk

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Produce Safety Extension Team compiled a wish list of food-safety items for citrus growers to prepare for the new year. Some of these items are must-haves straight from the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR) requirements. Other items are extras or good agricultural practices that make a food-safety program more robust.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Confirm at least one supervisor on the farm has taken a Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) grower training. The FSMA PSR requires one person from every covered farm to take a PSA grower training. These trainings are hosted by the UF/IFAS Extension Team in-person throughout the state and remotely. The list of trainings and upcoming food safety events can be found here.
2. Review your worker training records and ensure everyone on the farm who conducts any growing, harvesting, packing or storage activities has been trained on the principles of food safety and hygiene, illness and injury, and other areas relevant to their job.
3. Conduct an ag water system inspection for all pre- and post-harvest water systems to identify any conditions that may introduce food-safety hazards.  This includes a review of your ground- or surface-water distribution system(s) and identifying any breaks or areas that need repair to reduce risks of contamination. Document your findings.
4. Complete your ag water assessment for all pre-harvest water sources. This is a new requirement that was announced by FDA in May of 2024. This includes reviewing your water source, distribution system, method of application, timing and other factors to determine if your water is of adequate sanitary quality for its intended use. Get more information about factors to consider, compliance dates, and mitigation or corrective measures.

EXTRAS

• Work with all your cleaning and sanitizing crews to identify areas for improvement as well as surfaces and equipment that require maintenance. Consider investing in tools that will make employees’ jobs more effective.
• Test your water sources for generic E. coli. While testing is no longer a requirement for pre-harvest agricultural water under the FSMA PSR, it is still a requirement for many audit schemes and buyers. Testing is also a great way to measure the quality of your water source and track trends that provide valuable information for decision-making.
• Review your standard operating procedures, food-safety and recall plans. There’s no better way to prepare for a new year like making sure your plans and policies are in place and working appropriately to support the food-safety practices on your farm. While the hope is to only use the recall plan for routine traceability-system checks, it’s an invaluable tool in case it’s ever needed.

The UF/IFAS team is here to support your food-safety needs. From training to technical visits, we are happy to provide support for all of these wish list items. Email us at crec-foodsafety@ifas.ufl.edu or find out more about our programs here.

Taylor O’Bannon is a state food safety Extension agent, Morgan Madison is an education and training specialist, and Michelle Danyluk is a professor — all at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred. William Mitchell is an education and training specialist, and Keith Schneider is a professor, both in the UF/IFAS Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition in Gainesville. Stephanie Brown is a state specialized Extension agent in food science at the UF/IFAS Southwest Research and Education Center in Immokalee.