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How Can Produce Safety Technicians Help You?
13 Plays2 years ago
Produce Safety Technicians are a completely free resource to provide education and technical assistance at your convenience. Technicians can administer a Produce Safety Risk Assessment, help you develop a Farm Food Safety Plan, and describe the expectations and the process of a Produce Safety Inspection, all with complete confidentiality.
In this episode, Produce Safety Technicians Micah Hutchison and Patrick Gordon interview Jeremiah Palmer with Rennhack Orchards about his experience working with the Michigan On-Farm Produce Safety Team.
Funding for this podcast was made possible in part by the Food and Drug Administration through grant PAR-16-137. The views expressed in the posted materials do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does any mention of trade names, commercial practices or organization imply endorsement by the United States Government.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Agri-Food Safety Produce Bites podcast, where we discuss all things produce safety and dive into the rules and regulations surrounding the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule.
Free Technical Assistance for Growers
00:00:13
Speaker
Today we'll be talking about the free technical assistance that produce safety technicians can provide for growers. We'll also hear from Jeremiah about his experience with the on-farm produce safety team and how he implements food safety on his farm.
Meet the Produce Safety Team
00:00:28
Speaker
Well, good morning. My name is Jeremiah Palmer. I partner at Renhack Portraits LLC. I'm also our food safety manager. Hello, my name is Micah Hutchison. I am a produce safety technician with the Genesee Conservation District, and I work with farmers in Southeast Michigan on the implementation of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.
00:00:48
Speaker
Hi, I'm Patrick Gordon. I'm the produce safety technician for Southwest Michigan, and I am based out of Berry and Conservation District. I do the same
Tools for Produce Safety
00:00:58
Speaker
job as Mike. I work with farmers to prepare for implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act's produce safety rule. So we have multiple tools to help farmers with their on-farm
00:01:13
Speaker
produce safety, first of which is the produce safety risk assessments, which are the PSRAs. We have on-farm readiness reviews, or OFRRs.
00:01:23
Speaker
We also help with writing food safety plans, with water testing, record keeping, training protocols, microbial risk mitigation, wash-pack consultations, and many other technical assistance based on the needs of the farmer. We're kind of a liaison between a lot of different organizations, like we have
Building a Supportive Network
00:01:45
Speaker
a lot of resources that are fingertips that might not be as available to the farmer right away, but we have those numbers in our back pockets. You're right. Not only do we have such a wealth of information, we have such an ability to contact like MDARD and ask questions on behalf of growers and get information and education
00:02:09
Speaker
advice from MSU Extension, it really like our connected network, I think makes us really strong. Yeah, absolutely. And there's so many other different organizations that we work closely with that can help on other aspects in the farm life as well.
Initial Meetings with Growers
00:02:26
Speaker
You know, I sometimes help connect farmers with Pheasants Forever or other conservation organizations that can help in some other areas of expertise that might not be just produce safety specifically related. So, Michael, what does an initial meeting with a grower typically look like?
00:02:47
Speaker
I think for me, my initial visit with a grower is more about learning about their farm, learning about their farm's goals when it comes to produce safety and kind of how I can help them reach their produce safety goals. Yeah, I typically do the same thing on that initial visit. I typically like to walk around the operation and see what's going on at that particular farm.
00:03:15
Speaker
No farms are exactly the same. Each one is going to have different needs. So I like to be able to look at it and see the larger picture before diving deeper in. For sure. It's that saying, if you've seen one farm, you've seen one farm. Do you jump right into a PSRA or produce safety risk assessment? Or for you, is that first visit just like looking around and observing and learning?
Preparing for Inspections with PSRA
00:03:44
Speaker
Well, for me, typically that first visit is kind of walking around learning and observing, like you said. But towards the end, I kind of leave that up to the farmer to decide if they want to go over the PSRA. I can do it right there, especially since I have observed many of the questions that the PSRA covers and then go from there. Sometimes, you know,
00:04:12
Speaker
The farmer chooses to wait a little bit and then I come back. So it's really up to the discretion of the grower. So Patrick, we've talked about it, but can you explain what exactly is a PSRA and how it works? Sure. So the PSRA is kind of a checklist that we have. It's a booklet that we go over with the farm. In that book, we have categories that are directly correlate to the produce safety rule.
00:04:42
Speaker
And as we're walking around the farm, we check off those different sections on how ready the farm is for inspection. And we want to make sure that we record what exactly the farmer is and what it needs to do in order to get up to compliance to the produce safety rule.
00:05:05
Speaker
Do you have anything to add to that, Mike? I think I missed a few things. I would just add that. So in addition to being a really good kind of observation tool, the PSRA offers growers a certificate of completion, which kind of allows them to communicate that their farm has worked with a technician
00:05:29
Speaker
Their food safety plan has been evaluated by the state and that they are doing everything on farm to ensure safe produce. Right. And with that, the completion of that certification that can be used on farm stands and on websites and other signs to help promote that they are definitely compliant with the produce safety rule and keep produce safety in mind when they are growing and supplying their product to the public.
00:05:58
Speaker
So an on-farm readiness review or OFRR, it's kind of like a PSRA in its another set of eyes, watching on-farm operations and kind of seeing where that farm lies in compliance to the rule.
Understanding OFRRs
00:06:15
Speaker
It is a team of MSU Extension educators and conservation district technicians that show up on the farm at a agreed upon time
00:06:25
Speaker
and kind of spend some time watching farm operations like harvesting fresh produce, packing produce, asking questions to get into
00:06:35
Speaker
some of the finer details of how a daily workday looks like or what harvesting activities look on a farm. And then together come up with some suggestions about change and some guidance on how that farm and what they're doing on farm best aligns with the produce safety rule and what MDARD inspectors will be looking for if your farm's inspected, if or when the farm is inspected.
00:07:03
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's also important to add that it's a great tool that a lot of farms utilize when they're looking to get audited also. So most of the time when the farms reach out to us looking for an OFRR, they're either getting inspected soon or have an audit coming up.
00:07:22
Speaker
going through the OFRR kind of allows us to point out the different areas that might need a little bit more work before they get ready to pass the audit or the inspection. I think that's something that is so great about both the
00:07:38
Speaker
produce safety risk assessment and on-farm readiness reviews is they are very valuable tools to the grower and they're also free to the grower and then confidential. So both a risk assessment and a non-farm readiness review, none of that information will be shared with MDARD or with regulators. Everything stays on the farm. It's just a development tool for the grower.
00:08:03
Speaker
Right. Like you said, everything stays on the farm. That includes any notes that we take. So we're not even taking any of that information away so we can't pass it along.
Jeremiah's Farm Experience
00:08:12
Speaker
It's all extremely confidential. It doesn't leave the farm. Very true. So Jeremiah, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us a bit about your farm and your farm operation? Um, a multi-generational farm. I'm the third generation son-in-law to take over the farm.
00:08:32
Speaker
We grow 180 acres total. A hundred of it is apples. And then the other 80 is just a lot of mixed variety of stuff, peaches, plums, apricots, all stuff for our market because we also have a farm market. So we kind of got a real good mix of everything else going on as well. Can you talk about your experience with an OFRR and how it prepped for the inspection? We got our inspection back in 2019.
00:08:59
Speaker
And the on-farm readiness review is a great opportunity to have individuals actually come on to our farm to help just walk through an inspection. It's just having individuals be able to walk through and go, hey, here's some ideas for you. Hey, here's some thoughts for you. You know, this needs to be adjusted. Here's what you can do. Just really be able to be on the ground at your particular farm instead of just sitting in a class where you're just going to get in general to hear how you should do it. It's really nice to be able to have actual individuals at your farm.
00:09:25
Speaker
Here's how you need to do it. Here's what we suggest you change, or here's adjustments you can make. And so it really helps out, you get a real personal description on your farm, how you can make it better. So how did the inspection go after you completed the OFRR? Very well, because of the added input of being able to have people on our farm. We had to tweak a few things, but nothing major. It's a friendly event. They're not out to get you.
00:09:54
Speaker
They're there to work with the farmer and they're not trying to shut you down. They're not trying to cause problems or they're not trying to find that gotcha moment. And it just made it really handy to get prepped for the actual inspection because we know what we needed to do for our farm. So, Jeremiah, how do you implement food safety on your farm? We use Primus and Gap both for our main production of apples, but then that also
00:10:24
Speaker
works through all areas of our farm.
Impact of OFRR on Farm Operations
00:10:26
Speaker
We use food safety. Primarily we do training in the spring and summer with all of our workers, both through video and through paperwork. Um, that teach everyone, Hey, here's how you handle foods cleanly. Here's, here's a, what you should be doing as an employee washing your hands, you know, before you pick and after certain things. And we don't flip boxes down the row.
00:10:48
Speaker
Um, they actually, we have harvesting machines, the guys ride on that our boxes sit on those. Wow. Yeah, that's pretty nice. Yeah. So if they do five, there are five boxes at a time that the pickers are on either side of this machine and they pick directly into their bags and place the apples then directly into the box from the bag. Yeah. So it works really well for a box handling standpoint. Boxes aren't getting flipped up and down rows laying on the ground. Um, but it also makes it a lot easier.
00:11:17
Speaker
handling them in and out of the orchards as well. I'm still learning more what all the technicians are able to do. It's been kind of a learning problem. We got through the initial stuff of getting inspections done and now working with them more to get more training, more advice. So, Jeremiah, have you made any changes on farm or in your market based on your interactions with a technician or an inspector or one of the MSU educators?
00:11:47
Speaker
Some of the things you don't really think about, I think it's more what they were able to point out as far as keeping ladders cleaned, how to handle ladders, the way you pickers should move up and down ladders instead of grabbing the wrongs, grab the sides. I'm just kind of a small detail stuff like that that we really appreciate.
Benefits of Technician Support
00:12:02
Speaker
Do you think there's a benefit of having a technician in your area that you can build a relationship with and having that person that you can ask questions in like a less formal environment or way?
00:12:17
Speaker
Yes, very much so. Primus and Gap both, they offer training, but you go somewhere, you sit down in their class and you kind of get the generic, here's what we expect. And then you got to figure it out kind of on your own. We do use a consultant for that. She helps build our books for us, but it's really nice having the technician that can come onto the farm, walk the farm with you. Not with any expectations of I being judged or this is an audit.
00:12:45
Speaker
But they're there to really help support you, to help bring you along, to help you answer your questions, to show you what needs to be done. Because they want you to reach a higher standard. And they want to work with you to reach that standard. It's not just a pass-fail test. It's somebody that you can work with. And they're a phone call away going, hey, I got a question about. And they'll answer it for you. And there's no judgment about, oh, you weren't doing this right to start with. They're looking for people. They want to work with you. They want you to help you improve.
00:13:15
Speaker
And so it's really nice having that personal connection.
Conclusion and Further Information
00:13:18
Speaker
Thank you. That's nice to hear. Absolutely. I appreciate that.
00:13:24
Speaker
We try. Links to anything referenced in this episode are provided in our show notes, which can be accessed on the website at c-a-n-r dot m-s-u dot e-d-u slash agri-food underscore safety. Thank you to everyone for listening, and don't forget to tune in next month for another episode of our Produce Bites podcast.