Recipient Organization
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
886 CHESTNUT RIDGE RD RM 202
MORGANTOWN,WV 26505-2742
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This community outreach project aims to develop a systematic community training program to encourage the adoption of triple-wash process among very small local produce growers in West Virginia. Since high percentage of Salmonella and Listeria spp. were detected on fresh produce sold at WV farmers markets than the existing published data from other states, WV Small Farm Center encourages very small local produce growers to apply the triple-wash with antimicrobials to produce surfaces if their produce is eaten raw or grown close to the ground. A serial validation studies completed by the PD's research team suggest that applying triple-wash with commercial antimicrobials is an effective and economic-feasible approach for very small local produce growers to reduce foodborne pathogens on locally grown produce including butternut squashes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and spinaches. Therefore, the objectives are: 1) Conduct a survey of WV very small, local produce growers' current pre- and post-harvest practices related to the root cause of microbial contamination on fresh produce and their knowledge of FSMA produce safety rules; 2) Conduct in-person plant onsite workshop or remote training course of triple-wash for very small, local produce growers as a supplement for FSMA "train the trainer" workshop; 3) Develop a handbook of triple-wash for WV very small, local produce growers. Results will expand the current FSMA trainings to WV very small local produce growers, improve their food safety knowledge, and encourage their implementation of on-farm post-harvest best practices to reduce microbial safety risks of their produce.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Obj-1. Conduct a survey of WV very small, local produce growers' current pre- and post-harvest practices related to the root cause of microbial contamination on fresh produce and their knowledge of FSMA produce safety rules.Obj-2. Conduct in-person plant onsite workshop or remote training course of triple-wash for very small, local produce growers as a supplement for FSMA "train the trainer" workshop.Obj-3. Develop a handbook of triple-wash for WV very small, local produce growers.
Project Methods
Objective 1. Conduct a survey of WV very small, local produce growers' current pre- and post-harvest practices related to the root cause of microbial contamination on fresh produce and their knowledge of FSMA produce safety rules.In the first year of this proposed project, we will conduct an in-depth survey of 30-50 very small, local produce growers in WV on their current pre- and post-harvest practices related to the root cause of microbial contamination on fresh produce. The survey will include five parts: 1) exisiting agricultural practices used by very small produce growers during production, such as compost and manure prepration and management, treatment of agricultural water, spray of pesticides and inseticides, which are related to the root causes of microbial contaminated produce; 2) producer's current post-harvest practices including handling, collection, cleaning, storage, transportation, and packaging of fresh produces, which are linked to produce contamination; 3) farmers' knowledge on FSMA produce safety rules, such as "worker health, hygiene sanitizing and cleaning", "microbial cross-contamination", "post-harvest processing" "agricultural water" and other FSMA related regulations; 4) producer's concerns over the currently employed pre-and post-harvest methods, major considerations and barriers when deciding whether to adopt a new procedure, perceptions of microbial contamination, and interest in future microbial safety post-harvesting workshops; and 5) information on producer's operations, including the type of fresh produce they grow, the size of their farm, their cost of production, venues for their products, etc.Objective 2. Conduct in-person plant onsite workshop or remote training course of triple-washfor very small, local produce growers as a supplement for FSMA "train the trainer" workshop,Co-PD Ms. Jones from WVU-SFC will coordinate a one-day triple-wash training workshop at our stakeholder Preston County Workshop Inc. and will also organize a one-day outreach workshop on post-harvest sanitizing practices with triple-wash in the spring of 2025 (the 2nd year of the project) at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center in Charleston, WV as part of the 2025 WVU-SFC FSMA "Train the trainer" workshop. The PDs Drs. Shen and Jones will be the primary instructors. The training course is open to very small, local produce growers in WV and nearby states interested in implementing triple-wash in their own produce processing line. The training workshops will be conducted in-person and/or virtually.We will create a series of stand-alone online learning modules that can be accessed remotely at any time.Objective 3. Develop a handbook of triple-wash for WV very small, local produce growers.The PD's team will develop a 37-page portable handbook of triple-wash. We will discuss the potential causes of microbial contamination and how they relate to the common pre- and post-harvest practices used by producers identified in the survey conducted in Obj-1. The concept of the triple-wash procedure, along with its applications to various types of fresh produce and major microbial pathogens, will be presented.