The Fresh Produce Safety Centre (FPSC) has two research projects and plenty of useful information for growers, packers, supply chain and QA professionals in Australia and NZ.
Update the Guidelines
The first project is to update the Guidelines for On-Farm Food Safety, to include new information, to extend the scope along the supply chain, and to include the NZ fresh produce industry.
An editorial committee is in place and a request for industry suggestions and input has been made. The Guidelines document is widely-used by growers, packers, QA trainers and auditors. It forms the basis of training for the Freshcare Food Safety and Quality Code. The current edition is available here.
Understanding the Gaps
The second project, known as Understanding the Gaps, is to conduct a review of all the latest research reports and relevant literature relating to microbiological contamination of fresh produce due to: agricultural (pre-harvest) water; organic inputs and composting; growing systems and practices; coolrooms, refrigerated transport and other storage. And to look at the interaction between sanitisers and fungicides.
The literature review will also provide information to update the Food Safety Guidelines.
For more information and contact details see Tree Fruit March 2015
