Food Protection Trends - March/April 2023 - 157

8,094 m2) found that only 47% (n = 15) of growers managed
packing facility sanitation and transportation (61). Sinkel
et al. (61) also reported nearly half of growers (n = 160)
identified storage, display, or preparation (51%), transport
vehicles (45%), refrigeration or cooling (28%), produce wash
and rinse water (36%), and transport containers (52%) as
possible sources of cross-contamination. Costs associated
with purchasing and maintaining PA may contribute to the
absence of some PA related to postharvest practices, as four
studies reported cost as a barrier to implementation of RMP
(7, 51, 61, 65).
PA scores for RMP implementation
PA scores were highest (90%) for animal control and
lowest (55%) for food safety signage. Published studies
reported high implementation levels (70 to 75%) of RMP
related to wildlife and animal intrusion, including one study
conducted with strawberry producers (n = 90) in the SE
United States (5, 78). Growers were reported to use animal
preventive measures because of knowledge of outbreaks
attributed to animals (21, 26, 40, 44). Importantly, in 2011,
15 foodborne illness cases due to Shiga toxin-producing
E. coli were reported due to eating fresh strawberries
contaminated with deer feces, resulting in two deaths (44).
Apart from animal control, the next highest score was
received for worker hygiene (88.1%). Worker hygiene is a key
risk factor for strawberry contamination, as strawberries are
often hand harvested and packed (42). Therefore, growers
may understand the importance of RMP leading to better
implementation (18, 51).
The lowest (55%) score for food safety signage may be
due to the PSR not requiring the posting of food safety
signage (75). Visual and text signage are a better way to
learn new information (55, 64), so these types of signage
could be incorporated into training as a means to increase
RMP implementation. PA scores for strawberry storage
and transportation were also low (55.6%), followed by
harvesting and packing (66.7%) and agricultural water
practices (70.2%). Although it is recommended to use
separate vehicles for transporting produce, including
strawberries, only five (56%) of nine farms in our sample
had separate vehicles to transport produce, probably
because our sample consisted of small farms. Besides the
availability of separate vehicles, it is important to properly
clean and sanitize transport vehicles and containers prior
REFERENCES
1. Adalja, A., and E. Lichtenberg. 2018. Implementation
challenges of the food safety
modernization act: evidence from a national
survey of produce growers. Food Control
89:62-71.
2. Adam, E. A., J. S. Yoder, L. H. Gould, M. C.
Hlavsa, and J. W. Gargano. 2016. Giardiasis
outbreaks in the United States, 1971-2011.
Epidemiol. Infect. 144:2790-2801.
3. Anjom, F. K., and S. G. Vougioukas. 2019.
Online prediction of tray-transport request
time using mechanistic grey box models for
improved scheduling of robotic strawberry
harvest-aids. Biosyst. Eng. 188:265-287.
4. Anjom, F. K., S. G. Vougioukas, and D. C.
Slaughter. 2018. Development of a linear
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5. Astill, G., T. Minor, L. Calvin, and
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produce rule: A survey of US produce growers.
EIB-194. U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Economic Research Service, Washington, D.C.
to hauling strawberries. Low PA scores for agricultural
water practices were due to the unavailability of tested and
treated agricultural water. Very small farms (i.e., as defined
in the PSR) are required to comply with the PSR water
requirements by 2024 (74); therefore, training should
emphasize these water requirements, as produce growers
generally lack knowledge in RMP related to agricultural
water (51, 55, 64, 78). A study conducted in the north central
region of the United States reported the least common
behavior changes were implementing RMP for transportation
of produce (15%) and testing of agricultural water for generic
E. coli (20%) (54).
Data collection was to be completed between March 2020
and April 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was
postponed until June 2020. As a result, we could not assess
all PA because strawberries were not in season in many states
in the SE United States. Also, we could not conduct assessments
in all 13 SE states because of COVID-19 restrictions
regarding in-person human subject assessments. Finally,
in-person assessments are resource and time intensive, so site
visits were limited to two farms per state and were not generalizable
to all small strawberry farms in the SE United States.
CONCLUSIONS
Implementation of RMP can be challenging and can be
influenced by the availability of PA. Hence, we assessed the
presence of PA on small strawberry farms. Although most PA
were present on farms in our sample, the absence of some,
such as safe agricultural water sources, body fluid spill kits,
and food safety signage, suggests these topics need to be
better addressed in training curricula. In addition, strawberry
U-pick operations, which face unique challenges compared
to conventional strawberry growers, were common among
our sample so training specific to their needs should be
created and offered. Future research studies should focus on
establishing the relationship between PA and implementation
of RMP. The findings from this study could be used to inform
the development of a larger-scale survey.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was funded by the National Institute of Food
and Agriculture, USDA (award 2017-70020-27255). This
work was supported, in part, by the National Institute of
Food and Agriculture, USDA, Hatch Act.
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