I recently attended the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention in Hershey, Pennsylvania to learn more about the issues and interests of growers. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Rule was discussed among the group, as deadlines for growers are looming. One big section of the Produce Rule focuses on worker health and hygiene. It’s important to have a good handle on what inspectors will be looking for when evaluating your current farm food safety practices and adapting them to meet FSMA guidelines.
Use this checklist below to guide your worker health and hygiene operations including documenting Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) for injury and illnesses, bathroom facility procedures and handwashing training specifics.
Access the Farm Food Safety Checklist for Worker Health and Hygiene HERE
If you’d prefer to download and print out the checklist, click here for a PDF version.
Tips for the Checklist
- Double-click the done column when you have addressed the worker-related focus area to check it off
- Double-click again to un-check the done column
- You can filter the checklist by clicking on a certain category in the box to the right
Tips for on-farm Worker Health and Hygiene Operations
- Print out a map of your farm and mark where all handwashing and bathroom facilities are located
- Document worker injury and illness SOPs
- View this helpful sample SOP from Cornell’s extension program
- Document worker handwashing SOPs
- View this helpful template from Cornell’s extension program
- Document the maintenance of handwashing and bathroom facilities
- View this sample log from Cornell’s extension program
- Document where first aid kits are located
- View this first aid kit monitoring log from Cornell’s extension program
- Document SOPs for the sanitation of surfaces after a contamination
- View this sample SOP for Cleaning and Sanitizing Surfaces, Tools and Equipment
- Document SOPs for the disposal of produce that comes in contact with blood or bodily fluids
Helpful Resources for Worker Health and Hygiene on the Farm
- Worker Health, Hygiene and Training Overview
- Cornell created this extensive document on worker health and hygiene on the farm including sample SOPs for handwashing and worker illness along with a sample visitor health and hygiene policy: http://ow.ly/bMxF309pK8y
- DIY Handwashing Stations
- Meredith Melendez has a helpful blog from Rutgers on creating your own handwashing stations on the farm: http://ow.ly/jHWh309pH3b
- Worker Hygiene on the Farm
- A grower self assessment of food safety risks and best practices that fall in line with Good Agricultural Practices : http://ow.ly/zJtQ309pJIF
I hope this checklist is helpful for your farm food safety operations. Let me know if there are other checklists for farm food safety that you would find helpful, and they may end up on the blog!
