If you are curious about the quality of your irrigation ponds, streams, wells, or other surface water source, water testing is an important tool to consider. If your buyer wants you to get an audit and be certified under GAPs, Harmonized GAPs, or other third-party program, water testing becomes a requirement. Water testing that provides meaningful results requires a quantified generic E. coli test, or an Enumeration E. coli test. Some water testing labs only do a potable water test called a presence/absence test. The Enumeration test provides test results as in numbers of (bacterial) colony forming units (CFU or most probable number MPN).

Wash/pack facilities are bottlenecks -- all produce on the farm may need to go through the facility, and the smallest amount of contamination could escalate into a much bigger contamination event under the right conditions. This is why it's critical that food safety practices be implemented to ensure that foodborne pathogens are not introduced or spread as produce is sorted, graded, washed, and packed. To help you understand how wash/pack facilities can be sources of foodborne pathogens, Robert Hadad and Caitlin Tucker have developed a 5-part online video resource.

We all know that farm employees have many crucial roles on the farm, including carrying out food safety policies and practices. However, their ability to do that effectively, depends heavily on the quality of the training they receive. To meet the growing need for online, easily accessible resources, Robert Hadad and Caitlin Tucker have designed "Essentials of Food Safety for Farmworkers", a 5-part video series that covers many of the required worker training topics set forth by FSMA (the Food Safety Modernization Act), or other 3rd party auditing programs. 

As we learn more about reducing microbial risk on the produce farm, more emphasis is being placed on cleaning food contact surfaces. Accessing the hard to reach spaces in wash line equipment is challenging. Most of the equipment was not made to come apart very easily or in an economically efficient manner. The checklist provided here has been developed through hands-on research cleaning equipment as thoroughly as can be measured without doing microbial testing. That level of cleaning is still being researched but, from our work, the level of cleanliness provided here appears to be sufficient.

Months of research was conducted on a root barrel washer to determine the best way to clean the equipment given that it was not designed to be easily taken apart and cleaned. Hard-to-reach places were identified through the tracking of vegetable matter and debris dispersed within the barrel washer during use. An acceptable level of cleanliness completed in a reasonable amount of time was identified. The equipment cleanliness was based on visual criteria only; further investigation of the microbial level is still required. To the best of our efforts, areas of critical cleaning are identified in this checklist as well as all other sections necessary to clean.

In the wash/pack shed, a variety of large and small equipment can be found. All need cleaning. Here is a group of cleaning SOPs for growers to use as examples for writing their own to meet their specific needs. We also provide instructions for preparing sanitizer solution for a pump sprayer used to clean produce washing equipment.

This how-to guide will take you through the steps necessary to wash produce in a food safe manner. From calculation of sanitizer rates to washing procedures, many variables can affect the safety of produce on your farm. The guide details the materials you will need, preparation, calculating and mixing the peracetic acid solution, washing produce, and testing turbidity.

Writing a food safety plan for your farm will help you implement the practices later. To ease the burden of trying to figure out what to write for in a plan, we have created a template for you to use.

The goal of this document is to provide more detail on setting up an efficient wash/pack facility with a focus on farm food safety and maintaining post-harvest quality. Of course, each farm will have unique circumstances and need different pieces of equipment. The idea here is think about the way to use a space to your best advantage. A facility should be set up to wash and move produce efficiently while getting the job done effectively. Whether you are adapting a currently existing space or starting from scratch, you can use this document to plan as close to the ideal situation as possible. You can customize to your specific situation, budget and needs.

A PDF list of water testing labs for agricultural and farm food safety uses in NY (assembled Summer 2016). 

Commercial vegetable growers will find a Cold Storage Chart by crop type with temperature and relative humidity recommendations. The maximum number of weeks that the crop can be held under ideal conditions is provided as well.

Adapted from the USDA Bulletin #66, The Commercial Storage of Fruits, Vegetables, and Florist and Nursery Stock, growers will find information on quality, grading, sizes, and packaging, chilling and storage, and post-harvest pathology of vegetables.

On-Farm Cold Storage of Fall-Harvested Fruit and Vegetable Crops is an in-depth look at the planning and designing cooling for late season and winter storage but it also is useful for general cooling as well. This was written by Scott Sanford, Distinguished Outreach Specialist, UW-Extension, and John Hendrickson, Outreach Program Manager, Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Our model wash table was built from parts purchased entirely from a decently stocked hardware store. The list contains all the components we used to build the main table, the side modular tables, and the "dirty table". Also listed are the prices we paid to give you an idea of a building price. The real goal for these tables is to demonstrate that it doesn't require high priced equipment to get started in setting up an easily cleanable wash line set-up. The idea is to have something usable whether it is indoors or outside under canopies. The key is having the tables and equipment that can be easily cleaned and sanitized while being low-cost, easy to build, and totally functional.

Good Agricultural Practices or GAPs are the steps taken in produce packing areas to reduce microbial contamination. One area where reducing micro contamination is critical is in the washing and cleaning of produce. This video shows you a set of standard operating procedures for using a germicidal bleach in a produce washing station. Learn what supplies are required and how to calculate the amount of germicidal bleach needed to sanitize the water.

Need to know how much it will cost to run a wash line for vegetable and adding sanitizers to the water? This spreadsheet that will give you the breakdown of costs based on the type of sanitizer chosen and will further provide how the costs are divided over each step of post-harvest washing and handling. 

Want to quickly figure out the sanitizer dose needed for various types of sanitizer for your wash line tanks/tubs/ or basins? This handy tool will give you that information without all that messy algebra everyone has forgotten from high school. Attached to this spreadsheet tool is a chart that provides the concentrations of sanitizer needed for large volumes of wash water. This spreadsheet was also created by Chris Callahan, UVM Extension.

This tool will help vegetable farmers figure out their cooler storage needs as well as be able to quickly see the refrigeration capacity to cool their harvest. This tool was created by Chris Callahan, AG Engineer, Univ. VT

Harvest containers and tools can contaminate your produce. Prior to use, harvest containers and tools should be washed and sanitized. When not in use, it is important that they are stored in designated locations where they cannot be used for any other purpose and secure from animal contamination.

This video is an overview of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) through on-farm risk assessment. Cornell Cooperative Extension, along with the National GAPs Program and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, has developed and implemented a nationally-recognized training program in GAPs to prepare New York growers for the marketplace's increased vigilance in food safety. You can learn more about that program through this video, as well as updates on the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), and economic information on the implementation of GAPs collected from growers through extensive interviews.

Farmers are inventive people. When faced with a problem, their creative minds fire up and come up with solutions. This project is the result of discussions with farmers about food safety on their wash lines. Many farms work with a harvest volume that doesn't warrant automated washing and packing equipment, but these famers still need a system to transform field harvested produce into saleable product. We designed this wash-line plan for small-scale farmers who wish to increase their efficiency and minimize microbial risk in post-harvest handling. The modular wash line plan shows that incorporating food safety practices can be affordable. Farmers can creatively minimize microbial risk cost.

Farm Food Safety practices not only reduces the risk of microbial contamination that can lead to food-borne diseases but can also improve the post-harvest quality of washed vegetables. There are many issues dealing with farm food safety and a lot of research going on. One area centers on low-cost but effective equipment options. Dr. Jay Neal from the University of Houston has designed a greens washer/spinner built from PVC and using a 5 gallon bucket with lid. One of our farmers has built a model and modified the instructions to make building and usage easier.

A packing shed schematic showing considerations for Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs).

E. A. Bihn, M.A. Schermann, A. L. Wszelaki, G. L. Wall, and S. K. Amudson, 2013:
Sample Standard Operating Producer (SOP) that describes the correct method of hand washing for workers and visitors.

Sample SOP that describes what to do when an injury occurs on the farm.