Practice Farm Food Safety to Protect Yourself and Your Farm

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• "Ill From Food? Investigations Vary by State," New York Times, April 20, 2009.  [pdf]

• "An Analysis of the First-Order Economic Costs of the 2008 FDA Tomato Warning " by Andrew Meyerson, April 1, 2009.  [pdf]

• "To Fill Food Safety Gap, Processors Pay Inspectors," New York Times, April 17, 2009.  [pdf]

• "Locally grown' food sounds great, but what does it mean?"  October 28, 2008 [pdf] http://www.agobservatory.org/headlines.cfm?refID=104314. 

• "State launches food-tracking system pilot program"  October 27, 2008 [pdf]  http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2008/10/27/local/local03.txt

• "Survey shows how high prices, local food, environmental and food safety concerns sway consumer views"  September 28, 2008.  http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/newsreleases/2008/092908_prices.html

• "Safe to Eat?  Farm Bureau sponsors panel discussion"  June 26, 2008  [pdf]

• "Costco's World-Class Produce"  February 2008  [pdf]

• "Tainted spinach: All bacteria may not come out in the wash,"  USA Today, October 4, 2006.  [pdf]

• "A selection of North American produce related outbreaks from 1990-2005"  International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University.  [pdf]

• An Interactive tracking of foodborne illness outbreaks in the US, 2003-2008 by Phil Howards.  [html]

Each farmer needs to be proactive in protecting themselves and their farm.  Below are selected educational materials to learn more about good agricultural practices and farm food safety.

• Federal Regulations

  • Food and Drug Administration's Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Leafy Greens (July 2009) - http://www.fda.gov/

  • Food and Drug Administration's Produce (Melons): Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Melons (July 2009) - http://www.fda.gov

  • Food and Drug Administration's Produce (Tomatoes): Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Tomatoes (July 2009) - http://www.fda.gov

  • National Ag Safety Database  - Hundreds of publications on agricultural safety

• Educational Resources for Food Safety Information

  • Hawaii Food Safety Center, produced by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture:  http://hawaiifoodsafetycenter.org/

  • Cornell University National GAPs Network for Education and Training program - http://www.gaps.cornell.edu/

  • UC Good Agricultural Practices - http://ucgaps.ucdavis.edu/

  • Georgetown University's Produce Safety Project:  http://www.producesafetyproject.org/

• Hawaii Regulations, Standards and Guidelines

  • Labeling requirements:  HDOA Commodities - http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/qad/comm/comm

  • Hawaii Department of Health's "Guidelines for handling fresh fruits and vegetables in a food establishment" - http://hawaii.gov/health/environmental/sanitation/sanitationguidelines/producehandling.pdf

  • Hawaii Revised Statutes for Food Establishment Sanitation (HRS 11-12) - http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/sites/har/AdmRules1/11-12.pdf

• Traceability

  • "What we've learned about produce traceability,"  Food Safety Magazine April/May 2009:   http://www.producetraceability.org/pdfs/Food%20Safety%20article-1.pdf

  • "Food Traceability: One Ingredient in a Safe and Efficient Food Supply,"  USDA-ERS April 2004.  [pdf] http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/April04/Features/FoodTraceability.htm

• Pesticide Education

  • University of Hawaii, CTAHR, Extension Pesticide Programs:  http://pesticides.hawaii.edu/

  • EPA's Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides - http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/twor.html

• Other Resources

  • Cornell University's Waste Management Institute - Composting fact sheets:  http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/factsheets.htm

  • "Fresh-cut Produce Re-Wash Panel April 4, 2006", California Department of Health Services Food and Drug Branch.  [pdf]

  • "Recommendations for Handling Fresh-cut Leafy Green Salads by Consumers and Retail Foodservice Operators, " by Mary Palumbo et al.  2007.  [pdf]