Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Eating and drinking on the job are other areas that need to be addressed through
employee training. To prevent contamination from an employee's mouth and hand, no
form of eating or drinking should be allowed in the production environment. All such
activity should be confi ned to certain break times and within a certain physical area
designated for such activities.
Finally, employees need to understand proper product-handling techniques. Product
that falls on the fl oor should be put in the trash can, not back on the line. Edible
product should be contained only in edible product totes that are marked accordingly.
It is very important that management analyze the entire system to identify equipment,
containers, tools, and other items that come in contact with the product, and then
formalize procedures to prevent contamination of the product. Color coding for tools
and containers eliminates confusion, but it must be explained to all personnel for
effectiveness.
Process Controls
Fresh produce typically has some level of natural microfl ora with no signifi cance
to human health. In some circumstances, fresh produce can be contaminated
with pathogenic microorganisms, even when grown and harvested in accordance
with good agricultural practices (GAPs). When raw produce is delivered to the fresh-
cut processing plant, there are also some steps that can be taken to prevent contamina-
tion during processing and handling of the fi nished product. Most of these steps are
covered in a comprehensive food safety program designed specifi cally for fresh-cut
produce.
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plans
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans have been used in the
fresh-cut produce industry since the early 1990s to control hazards. According to the
NACMCF HACCP Guidelines (NACMCF 1997), HACCP has the capacity to control
microbiological, physical, and chemical hazards. In a fresh-cut plant, the contaminants
most often cited are physical in nature and range from wood to metal, but microbio-
logical contamination could be present.
When it was fi rst published, the
Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh-cut Produce
Industry
(Gorny 2001) contained a model HACCP plan for a typical fresh-cut opera-
tion. There was only one Critical Control Point (CCP) identifi ed, where the hazard is
metal contaminants and the control point was a metal detector. The massive amount
of machinery, equipment, and tools used in these facilities could contribute to this
potential hazard and provides the impetus to require metal detectors as a critical
control point. To date, there is no economical approach that can detect foreign objects
made of other materials, so these physical contaminants are best removed using a
washing step and several points of inspection by workers.
The current edition of the
Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh-cut Produce
Industry
has an updated plan (with no new CCPs) and is a great resource to use in
developing an HACCP plan for any fresh produce operation. It is important to note
that there are several prerequisites that need to be in place before the HACCP plan
can be effective. Those include the GAPs outlined in the FDA's
Guide to Minimize
