Fresh Cut Magazine

Employee Preparedness in Food Safety

Kudos to the lettuce industry for identifying strong food safety practices for production and designing a process to monitor them through the California Lettuce Marketing Agreement. This is a giant step forward in measuring the progress of an industry-led food safety initiative. Through this process, the industry can generate training materials, measuring tools and implementation steps to reduce contamination in lettuce fields throughout U.S. production areas. Just looking at one aspect of the benefits of this type of industry-led monitoring program – employee training – shows us the ramifications can be far-reaching. In many cases, food safety is in the hands of the people. Whether you’re talking about workers or consumers, people can have an effect on the safety of food products. Measure the Results We think it is imperative that the industry mount a new campaign to train all workers in food safety – whether they…  » Read more

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Additions include organic, value-added

In its 25 years, F&S Produce Co., Rosenhayn, N.J., has grown from a seasonal grower/processor to a fresh produce distributor, frozen processor and fresh-cut processor moving more than 50 million pounds of fruits and vegetables annually. Sam Pipitone Jr. started the company with a business partner in 1981 – he’s the “S” in F&S Produce. He was the third generation of his family to farm in southern New Jersey, but had the chance to process brined green and red peppers for Green Giant’s Mexicorn product. From there, F&S Produce moved into fresh-cut and value-added produce. Pipitone took over as sole owner and CEO in 1986, and at that time decided to focus the company’s attention on fresh-cuts. He divested the farming operations and sourced produce from around the country. He also started a trucking company, Pipco Transportation, that operates 22 tractors and more than 50 refrigerated trailers.…  » Read more

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FDA guidelines: Sword or shield in food-related litigation?

Americans’ increased consumption of fresh produce brings increased risks in terms of the number of outbreaks of foodborne illnesses and related lawsuits. Grown in a natural environment exposed to a number of elements, from variable water quality to domesticated and wild farm animals and often consumed without cooking or other treatment to reduce or eliminate pathogens, ready-to-eat fresh fruits and vegetables can carry a high risk of contamination. In fact, growing numbers of fresh-cut produce claims, including the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak last fall impacting spinach nationwide, spurred the FDA to issue guidelines covering minimally processed fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, such as shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes and cut celery, melon, pineapple and grapefruit. A full copy of the guidelines is available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/prodgui3.html. Although the guidelines are in draft, “nonbinding,” open for public comment and subject to approval by the Office of Management and Budget, they…  » Read more

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Food safety can begin before a plant is built

Sanitary design is a holistic approach to creating an environment that will reduce the risk of contamination in a fresh-cut produce facility. It covers the local environment, the construction and maintenance of the facility, education of employees and workflow. Sanitary design should begin before a processing facility is built. Exterior Design “Sanitary design starts with the site design of where you’re going to put the building,” said Les Lipschutz, principal of Food Safety Inc. in Albuquerque, N.M. A facility that’s been built in a flood zone could become contaminated if the water rises – puddles create a risk of growing bacteria and tracking them into a facility. Dust from dirt roads could carry organisms into a facility. Activity at neighboring buildings should be considered as well, said Don Graham, consultant and owner of Graham Sanitary Design Co. in Jackson, Mich. The plant’s design will have to be amended if…  » Read more

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E. coli bacteria a persistent threat to leafy greens crops

In a display of detective skills worthy of Sherlock Holmes, state and federal investigators hunted down the bacteria that caused 205 people in 26 states to become ill and three to die last September after they ate bagged California spinach. The final report issued March 21 could not pinpoint the smoking gun that fired the fatal bullets. What investigators found was an arsenal of guns, and plenty of potentially lethal bullets ready to be fired. While one farm, the Paicenes Ranch, was identified as the source of this particular batch of E. coli O157:H7, the bacteria was also found on three other farms growing spinach for Natural Selections Foods. E. coli O157:H7, a virulent strain of a common bacteria, may be more widespread than once believed and not necessarily associated with feedlot cattle and confined animal feeding practices – at least in California’s Salinas Valley.…  » Read more

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TV News and Old News

I tend to take everything I see in a television news program with a grain of salt. While working at a local news affiliate during college, I learned that broadcasters rarely have the time to tell the whole story, and definitely don’t have the time to research breaking news. Follow-up stories are almost unheard of, because once a news piece is aired it becomes “old news.” We all saw this during the nationwide spinach recall. For a few weeks, we heard the same information, or misinformation, aired over and over. But once the initial crisis was over, the story became old news. But in March I stumbled across a story on the Today Show, which I only happened to see because I had taken the day off work. It was part of the program’s Farm to Fork series following leafy green production from the field to the…  » Read more

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