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More than 200 employees at Ohio fresh produce farms have participated in a special program detailing their role in food safety from the farm to the fork.

Good Agricultural Practices, a program developed by researchers at Cornell University, are being implemented in Ohio as part of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Food Safety Initiative, funded from a USDA grant through the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

Mary Donnell, a commercial horticulture agent with Ohio State Extension’s Agricultural Business Enhancement Center (ABEC) in Bowling Green, is the Buckeye State’s curriculum coordinator for the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) program.

"The training has been well received by growers and employees," Donnell said, adding that the key reason behind teaching workers about food safety is to keep Ohio growers competitive. The training focused on worker sanitation and hygiene.

Many employees who have been trained are of Hispanic descent. Francisco Espinoza, ABEC’s labor specialist, conducts those sessions in Spanish while Donnell presents the sessions to English-speaking audiences.

A seminar at GroCo Farms near Jamestown in mid-July showed how microbes could be spread from worker to product to consumer. Espinoza asked the group if any of them had been ill recently and cautioned that one cough into a hand that is then not sanitized can contaminate an entire day’s worth of harvested produce.

Special gel that shows up under black light was used to demonstrate the importance of proper hand washing. Even after a quick wash, the black light still showed traces of "contaminant." To best get rid of microbes, workers were told to wash their hands, especially fingernails and webbing between their fingers, at least 20 seconds – about how long it takes to sing the "ABC Song."

Funding for the program is funneled through Mid-American Ag and Hort Services, a consortium of organizations assisting employers to meet their labor needs. Donnell said MAAHS is looking for funding sources so the program can continue next year.

The reasons for such a program are clear, according to presentations from Cornell about GAP:

• There have been significant increases in the number of produce-associated food borne disease outbreaks in the United States.
• Produce-associated outbreaks per year more than doubled from 1973 to 1987 and from 1988 to 1998.
• Every year, there are an estimated 76 million cases of food borne illnesses; 325,000 hospitalizations; 5,200 deaths; and economic losses between $10 billion and $83 billion.

Programs related to the Food Safety Initiative will focus on several areas of possible concern in addition to worker sanitation and hygiene, according to information from MAAHS. Entire operations will be evaluated included pre-plant, production, harvest and post-harvest activities.

For more information about the program, contact MAAHS at 614-246-8286, e-mail jwargows@ofbf.org or visit the OFBF Web site (www.ofbf.org) for a link.

Link:

www.midamservices.org, events/projects, projects and Ohio Specialty Crop Food Safety Initiative.