MSU Extension Agrifood Safety

Phil Tocco, MSU Extension Educator, Preharvest and Postharvest Food Safety

The FSMA Produce Safety Rule talks about training as a formal process that needs to happen on every farm every year. Getting produce safety training once a year, though, doesn’t always send the right message about how important produce safety is to the grower. Informal “training” does a much better job of reminding everyone what the right thing to do is. This article outlines two resources from the Michigan On-farm Produce Safety Team that can help with these informal trainings.

Fruit and vegetable growers take produce safety seriously. No grower wants to make any consumer sick. The problem with produce safety on any farm is that it’s more than just the grower that influences how safe the produce they grow is. Getting everyone to do the right thing for produce safety requires regular reinforcement and a lot of repetition.

The FSMA Produce Safety Rule talks about training as a formal process that needs to happen on every farm every year. Most farms are already doing this using a video or through the H2A program. Getting produce safety training once a year, though, doesn’t always send the right message about how important produce safety is to the grower. Informal “training” does a much better job of reminding everyone what the right thing to do is. Two resources developed by the Michigan On-farm Produce Safety Team can help with these informal trainings.

Grower Texting Service

To help growers and supervisors provide this informal training, the Michigan On-farm Produce Safety Team has created a free on-farm produce safety texting service geared towards farm workers.  Once weekly during normal business hours, people who sign up for the texting service will receive a text to remind them of an aspect of on-farm produce safety. The texts are short, engaging, and available in English and Spanish. This service is a simple, effective way to reinforce important produce safety concepts without spending a lot of time (or money).

Because growers also need a record that training occurred, individual growers can sign up to receive a quarterly report that outlines which texts their workers received and if they read them.  When a worker receives a text, they are prompted to enter the farms unique code and their initials after they view the message.  A grower or supervisor can sign up to receive this report by simply providing their email address.  

Growers who are concerned that their farm workers are not tech savvy enough for text messaging can request printed posters that they can display at their farm or work camp. 

The texting service and it’s print versioFinaln is free of charge to Michigan farms. To sign up, farm workers can text “Training” to (888) 531-2157. Para el servicio en Espanol, text “capacitar”.

The Daily “Do”

Every day, Supervisors meet with farm crews before harvest to exchange important information about the day’s harvest. Only occasionally, on farm produce safety comes up, and it has not necessarily been an easy topic to bring up at these meetings… until now!

The Daily “DO” is an easy way for any supervisor or crew chief to bring up simple concepts about on farm produce safety.  Each day, the supervisor tears off one sheet of the Daily “Do” and reads the one line on the front of the sheet as part of the morning meeting.  As time permits, there are short things listed on many of the sheets that a supervisor can add to augment learning.  If someone wants to know the “Why?” All they need to do is turn the sheet over and read, “The Why Behind the Do”. This is another way to reinforce things that are proven to improve produce safety. 

If a grower has specific questions about on-farm produce safety or has difficulty tailoring GAPs to their farm, they are welcome to contact the Agrifood Safety Work Group at gaps@msu.edu or (517) 788-4292.    

Funding for this article and the resources detailed was made possible, in part, by the Food and Drug Administration through grant PAR-16-137. The views expressed in the written materials do not necessarily reflect the official policies if 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.