Progress 07/01/12 to 06/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Growers Extension agents Food safety educators Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? This worked served as a Master's thesis project for one gradaute student.The gradaute student and two undergraduate students were fully trained in experimental design, field sampling, produce and water sample processing for the microbiological assessment of foodborne pathogens and enumeration of indicator microorganisms. The graduate student was also trained in statistical analysis and writing.The gradaute student had the opportunity to also mentor undergraduate students. The graduate student was able to attend a national IAFP conferences and presented a poster on the work that is directly realted to this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Treakout Session - Training Workshop: 'GAPs and GHPs for Organic Production,22rd Annual Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA) Winter Meeting 2013,Annapolis MD 'GAPs and GHPs for Organic Production,23rd Annual Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA) Winter Meeting 2014,Annapolis MD Invited Talks 'Good Agricultural Practices and research update'.24th Annual Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA) Winter Meeting February 2015, Annapolis, MD. Sarah Allard, Donna Pahl and Shirley A. Micallef. Presented by S. Allard. 'Microbiological assessment of produce and post-harvest handling methods on small- and medium sized farms in the Mid-Atlantic Region' in Symposium: Trending now: What's new in post-harvest processing of fruits and vegetables,IFT 2014 Annual Meeting,21-24 June, 2014, Presented by S. Pagadala, post-doctoral researcher in Micallef Lab 'Conventional or organic produce? The microbiological question',JIFSAN 2014 Annual Spring Symposium,April 24 - 25, 2014 'Can we reduce risks of fresh produce contamination through improved Good Agricultrual Practices?',Montgomery College Spectrum Lecture Series 2013-2014, April 2014 'GAPs and Microbiological Safety of Fresh Produce',WyeREC Food Safety Training, March 2014, Presentation, Maryland Department of Agriculture and University of Maryland 'GAPs and Organic Production: Microbial Assessment',23rd Annual Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA) Winter Meeting 2014,Annapolis MD Food Safety and Organic Farming,AGNR Convocation,2013 'Safety of Fresh Produce and Farm Studies in the Mid-Atlantic',Good Agricultural Practices for Fruit and Vegetable Producers Training, St. Mary's County, MD, March 2013 - Maryland Department of Agriculture and University of Maryland, Presentation 'Microbiological Quality of Organically Grown Produce in Maryland and Other Mid-Atlantic States',22nd Annual Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA) Winter Meeting 2013,2013, Annapolis MD Poster Presentations Xu A., Pahl D., Buchanan R.L. and Micallef S.A.,Microbiological Assessment and Testing of Organic Pre- and Post-harvest Fresh Produce and Irrigation Water on Maryland Farms for Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli,2013 International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting,2013, Charlotte, NC, Poster Presentation What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Consumption of locally, organically-grown produce is becoming increasingly popular. In the mid-Atlantic region, farms adopting organic practices typically produce at small production scales, have limited resources and adopt low technology harvesting and post-harvest handling practices. Data on the effect of hand harvesting, field-packing or packing-house handling with minimal treatment on food safety risk at this production scale was lacking. We followed produce from small organic farms in Maryland, from the field through post-harvest handling and packing. Pre- and post-harvest produce and water were analyzed. No pathogens were recovered and no correlation between bacterial levels in irrigation water and on produce were detected. However, post-harvest handling with washing was found to have an impact on leafy greens microbiological status, with higher frequencies of foodborne bacterial indicators post-harvest. Barriers to sanitizer use in leafy greens wash water among small farms using organic practices were revealed. This observation was not noted for dry-packed produce such as tomatoes. In summary, hand harvesting and dry handling did not appear to introduce a significant food safety risk, but washed leafy greens carried higher levels of some microbial indicators, possibly attributed to the lack of sanitizer use in wash water. These findings helped us tailor our presentations and talks to try to bridge thisknowledge gap among farmers to try to motivate behavioural changes. We believe that the development of resources and materials customized for this sector of growers could enhance dissemination of information on best practices for leafy green. Training workshops on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Good Handling Practices (GHPs) were conducted in 2013 and2014 at the Annual Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA) Winter Meeting. The workshop focussed on GAPs, GHPs pertaining to small organic farming systems, and included discussion on FSMA and the Proposed Produce Safety Rule, as well as the importance of developing a food safety plan.The meeting also allowed additional time to present research updates.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
AIXIA XU, DONNA M. PAHL, ROBERT L. BUCHANAN AND SHIRLEY A. MICALLEF*. Comparing the Microbiological Status of Pre- and Postharvest
Produce from Small Organic Production. Journal of Food Protection - in press. doi:10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-14-548
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