What is Food Safety & Why is it Important?

For those of you that work in food production, from the growing process to the grocery store to the restaurant business, you know that food safety is huge. For those of you not as familiar with the food safety rules and regulations that are in effect, you are aware of what happens when food safety prevention steps are not followed, such as: outbreaks, recalls, foodborne illness (also commonly known as food poisoning), etc. Food safety practices were put into place to help prevent these issues from happening and to better hold food producers accountable.

What is Food Safety?

Food safety is the act of taking preventative measures to reduce the risk of people from getting sick from food that was mishandled at any point throughout the food supply chain (e.g., growing, harvesting, packing, processing, cooling, etc.). This will differ depending on which step the company is in the supply chain, but overall, all companies have the same end goal in mind. When dealing with food safety, the goal is to use preventative measures to reduce any chance of an outbreak, recall or foodborne illness from occurring, instead of having to deal with the repercussions after the fact.

Although it is an easy concept to understand, it is not always as easy to put into practice. At different levels of the food chain, there are different criteria in which to focus. However, different crops can have their own set of issues that go along with the generic food safety criteria that need to be followed. For example, cantaloupe rind has an outer netting where pathogens can hide and grow. This can become an issue for the consumer when they take the cantaloupe home and cut into it because any pathogens on the outer rind can potentially spread to the inner, edible portion of the fruit (read more on this here). However, when you compare this to an apple, you do not have the same issue because apples have a smooth exterior with no exterior netting.

Ultimately, the last thing that any company wants to be associated with is a food safety outbreak or recall, especially if it results in illnesses and/or deaths. Not only do they have to deal with the repercussions that arise from that, but they also lose customer loyalty and can potentially impact the entire industry for the affected crop.

Food Safety Examples

To give you some examples, here are a few ways that food safety plays a role with people that are producing food at different levels of the supply chain. Keep in mind that these are the basic generic concepts and differ based on the product(s) and process(es) in place.

Field Food Safety

During the growing and harvesting processes, there are multiple factors that the grower needs to monitor, including:

Previous Land Use – This includes everything from whether other crops were grown previously, the land was used commercially, if animals were raised, etc. All of these factors are important because the grower needs to know what occurred previously to make sure that the land has been treated properly before planting their own crop and that proper precautions are made. Obviously, if crops were grown previously, there is less of a risk, but the grower still needs to know the type of fertilizer and amendments were used and what types of products were stored on the land.
Adjacent Land Use – This is important when considering two main factors: topography and weather. Just like with previous land use, if there is any sort of activity occurring in the adjacent land, the grower needs to be aware because the activities on the adjacent land can easily affect what is occurring where the crop is growing. This is of particular concern when a ranch is located downhill or in a non-preferable topography related to the adjacent land.
Water Source/Testing – The water source can be anything from municipal water, to a well, reservoir, canal, river, recycled water, etc. There can even be multiple sources that feed into the same growing area. These water sources need to be maintained and monitored throughout the growing season to ensure that they do not pose a threat to the safety of the product. This includes routine and regular water testing to check for any pathogens in the water that is being applied to the crop.
Fertilizer Use – Fertilizers are anything that directly provide nutrients to the plant. In commercial growing operations, this ranges from treated compost, to fish emulsion to synthetic fertilizers. The fertilizers should be applied at the appropriate times, depending on the growing cycle and the label instructions. This applies to both organic and conventional operations.
Pesticide Use – This also applies to both organic and conventional operations. A lot of the misconceptions with organic crops is that no chemicals/pesticides are used and that consumers do not have to worry about the exterior of the skin with organic crops. That is incorrect. Organic growers can use organic approved pesticides, and they do use them. One thing to consider is that a lot of pesticides that conventional operations use are also approved for organic operations. The only difference might be in the application rates and timing, so there might be more applications to the organic crop at a lower dosage. When applying pesticides, the grower needs to ensure they are following the label instructions, respecting the pre-harvest intervals, and only using pesticides that are approved for that specific crop.
Worker Hygiene – Workers can potentially come into contact with the crop at the planting, weeding, irrigating, and harvesting stages. For this reason, it is very important that the workers follow a food hygiene training program. It goes back to the basics: hand washing after the bathroom/before work/after breaks/after eating, not taking protective outer garments into the toilet facilities and then returning to the field with them, taking breaks in designated areas instead of the field, no gum/spitting/tobacco use in the field, using clean gloves, not working while sick, etc.
Harvest Equipment Sanitation – Just as it is important for workers to practice good hygiene practices, it is imperative that they also maintain the harvesting equipment in a sanitary state. This can be anything from the knives used to harvest the crop, the buckets/bins they are harvested into, the harvesting rig, packing tables, etc. They all need to be cleaned and sanitized on a regular basis to prevent any pathogen growth that can contaminate other products.

Facility Food Safety

Storage and distribution centers, cooling facilities, packinghouses, and processing operations all fall under the facility category. However, although there are more criteria to follow at the processing level, all of the food safety areas still need to be covered at all levels.

Pest Control – Pest control programs need to be in place and effectively able to keep pests from the product, packaging and any equipment. This includes using traps that are suitable for the facility and the crops contained therein.
Cross-contamination – The facility should be set up so that there is no potential source of cross-contamination. An example of this is to keep processed products in a different area of the facility so that they do not come into contact with raw product. This also covers areas of the facility that might be a cause for concern, such as the rotation of packaging materials (first in, first out), any condensation dripping from the ceiling fans, cleanliness, etc.
Equipment Sanitation – This pertains to both food contact and non-food contact equipment, so the equipment that either comes into direct contact with the product or does not come into contact with the product. They need to be washed and sanitized thoroughly on a regular basis in order to prevent any sort of contamination to the product.
Temperature Management – For those crops that require cold storage, which is commonly required, the crops should be kept at the proper temperature. Those crops that are not processed, require cold storage for a longer shelf-life and to prevent pathogen growth. (There are a lot of pathogens whose growth can be stalled when exposed to colder temperatures.) For those products that are processed, they must be stored at colder temperatures to prevent pathogen growth. Not only will it affect the product shelf-life, but since the product is cut or has been altered in some way, pathogen growth is exponential at that point. It is the same reason that we have to keep cut fruit in the fridge, instead of out on the counter.
Sanitation – The facility should be maintained in a clean and organized manner. All cleaning supplies and materials should be labeled and separated based on their use, the shipping area/eating area/restrooms should all be maintained in a clean condition, all floor drains should be clean and where they are needed, the garbage area should be maintained, etc.
Testing – The facility should have a testing program in place, that tests the equipment, the water used, and potentially the product for pathogen contamination. This is important to verify cleaning and sanitation and to ensure that the product ran through the facility that gets sent out does not pose a food safety risk to the public.
Worker Hygiene – Just like with field workers, this is one of the most important food safety steps because the workers come into direct contact with the product. At the facility level, the workers wear more protective outer garments (e.g., gloves, aprons, etc.) than at the field level, which also creates an importance of the hygiene practices in place for the workers and for their outer garments. Worker hygiene includes hand washing, sanitizing hands and gloves, foot dips, washing outer garments and having a control procedure in place so that workers do not take them home and that they are all washed on a regular basis in the same way, eating in a designated area, etc.

In addition to the field and facility, food safety continues to play a role as fruits and vegetables make their way through the supply chain, either to the grocery store, produce markets or to restaurants.

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