August 2019 - 18

DUETS
illness as well. Some of the more
common culprits are Salmonella,
Campylobacter, Listeria, Norovirus,
and E. Coli. These can be spread
through human contact.
First and foremost, the goal of
any greenhouse operation should
be to prevent pathogens that
cause human illness from coming
into contact with any edible items
grown, harvested and packed
in their facilities. Once human
pathogens contaminate fruits,
vegetables, and herbs, they are
nearly impossible to eliminate.
Thus, growers need to focus on
implementing good agricultural
practices (you may know these
as GAPs) that help reduce the
risk of contamination - during
production, harvest, packing,
storage and shipping of product.
Several key elements of GAPs
are to ensure that workers
follow proper health and
hygiene practices as well as add
cleaning and sanitation practices
throughout the entire process
from start to finish.
Best Friends
Summer Salsa
Peter: Ornamental crop growers
who maintain clean growing
operations already understand
the value of good agricultural
practices. It's interesting how
your description of GAPs aligns
perfectly with Worker Protection
Standards where worker health
and hygiene are also the concern.
Different objectives achieved by
the same practices.
On a list of sayings that I've
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built over my career is do what's
best for the plant. It has guided
me as a commercial grower
to not cut corners and make
decisions that favor what's best
for the crop. It also serves me
as a researcher in that well
controlled experiments generate
more reliable data than sloppily
executed studies.
I like your explanation of an
ornamental crop grower needing
to focus on plant pathogens
while an edible crop grower
must do that and also address
the human pathogen layer. Your
comment reinforces the ounceof-prevention-pound-of-cure
approach
used in managing plant
pests. What extra precautions will
growers need to take to address
the human pathogen category?
Beth: It's helpful for any grower
to have a good understanding of
basic GAPs used in the production
of fruits, vegetables, herbs and
other edibles. Many GAPs are
geared toward outdoor production
and in soil, but the principles also
apply to greenhouse-grown crops.
Controlled environments allow
us to eliminate some of the risks
we might encounter if growing
outdoors, but it does not eliminate
them all.
Cornell University houses
the Produce Safety Alliance,
a cooperative effort between
Cornell, USDA and FDA to provide
federally mandated education
and resources according to the
Hawaiian Sunset
Lovebird
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August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2019
