Growing safe food

Who needs a food safety plan?

Food safety is a good idea and good for your business. At this time most Minnesota growers do not need to have their farm and produce GAP audited unless their customer – typically a distributor, grocery store, school or restaurant – requires it. If you need to have an audit, the first thing you need is a written food safety plan.

Even if you are direct marketing your produce and don’t need an audit, having a food safety plan and following good hygiene and sanitation practices can benefit your operation. It will assure your customers that you are proactively reducing the risk of microbial contamination on your produce. 

Get started by using the templates for standard operating procedures and logsheets and adapt them for your farm. The material provided here is guidance and not regulation and should be applied as appropriate and feasible to your fruit and vegetable operations. Keep in mind that this is YOUR plan and should fit YOUR farm. 

Food safety plan template

The farm food safety plan template follows the GAP audit checklist. 

• A farm food safety plan for you (Download this Word doc and fill out with your information.)

Logsheets

(Download these documents and fill them in with your information.)

• Compost time temp log
• Cooler temperature log
• Delivery vehicle inspection and cleaning log
• Employee training log
• Farm cart maintenance log
• Fence perimeter and field inspection log
• Field sanitation unit service log
• First aid kit log
• Harvest or traceability log
• Harvest tool and container cleaning log
• Illness and injury log
• Manure application log
• Mock audit log
• Morning checklist
• Packinghouse and washing line cleaning log
• Pest control log
• Restroom cleaning log
• Storage cooler cleaning log
• Thermometer calibration log
• Transportation log
• Water sanitizer log
• Water source testing log

Files are editable.

Other templates

• Harmonized GAP food safety plan template from Penn State Extension.
• Create a Food Safety Manual from the On-Farm Food Safety Project at FamilyFarmed.org.

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) basics

• GAPs are voluntary guidelines for produce farmers to reduce the risk of microbial contamination related to food-borne illnesses on their farms.
• There are various GAP audits available. Depending on the products grown, more than one audit a year may be required by your buyer or customer.

Farm food safety workshops

• Learn science-based best practices to help reduce risks of microbial contamination (Salmonella or E. coli) in fresh produce.
• Prepare for a voluntary GAP audit.
• Learn how to write on-farm food safety plans.

Navigating the USDA GAP audit process

• Are you are interested in selling fresh fruits or vegetables to wholesale markets such as distributors, hospitals or schools? You may be asked for a “third-party food safety audit.”
• Get step-by-step instructions on how to get a GAP audit.

Food safety for farm-to-school programs

Minnesota school districts and farmers help improve the health and education of Minnesota school children. These tools and resources will help ensure healthy and safe foods are available in cafeterias across the state.

Food safety for school gardens

The Food Safety for School Gardens manual can help school garden coordinators understand how to reduce food safety risks in school gardens. After reading the manual you can use our templates to create a food safety plan that will help you assess your garden and take actions that will improve food safety. Download the Food Safety for School Gardens manual.

Talk with your produce farmer about food safety

A frank conversation between farmers and the food service people who buy and prepare your produce for their businesses and institutions is a good way to assure your buyers that you are providing produce that is grown, harvested and packaged using the best food safety practices.

Watch a webinar to learn more about food safety when buying local produce

The video and short survey is helpful for buyers at schools, hospitals and other institutions.

• Shows on-farm practices that growers should use to keep their produce safe.
• Includes information on GAP audits, food safety plans and the Produce Safety Rule.
• Demonstrates how to talk with local growers about food safety before purchasing.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule requires that fully covered fruit and vegetable farms attend this training.

• This full-day course meets the training requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule for farms fully covered by the Rule (outlined in §112.22c of the Produce Safety Rule). 
• Offered in conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) Produce Safety Program.
• Led by Extension staff, experienced farmer trainers, and MDA staff. 
• All growers interested in learning about produce safety, GAPs, and the FSMA Produce Safety Rule are encouraged to attend.

Find and register for FSMA training on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture site. 

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) National Produce Safety Rule was finalized and put into effect by the FDA in November 2015. The rule establishes science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption.

If you grow and sell fresh fruits and vegetables, you may be subject to the rule and its provisions. Compliance dates vary based on your farm size.

More on FSMA

• FSMA Final Rule on Produce Safety (FDA) — Main Produce Safety Rule page with links to guidance.
• North Central Region Center for FSMA training (Iowa State)  — Regional FSMA training center. Summary of current FSMA-related information and a monthly newsletter.
• Produce Safety Alliance FMSA training program — Produce Safety Alliance provides FDA-recognized training for fruit and vegetable growers that are subject to the rule.

FSMA and the Produce Safety Rule: does the rule apply to me?

• While food safety is important for all farms, the FSMA Produce Safety Rule regulation only applies to some farms.
• There are several ways the farm or operation may be excluded or exempt from the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.
• FSMA Facts: Does this rule apply to you? (PDF from USDA). Flowchart to help you understand if the rule applies to your farm.

Labeling and signage rules for Qualified Exempt farms

Your farm might qualify for an exemption from the major regulations in the Produce Safety Rule based on your annual sales and the types of buyers you sell to. If so, you need to follow rules regarding labeling and signage.

How does the Produce Safety Rule apply to my farm? (video 7:02)

Water testing for the FSMA Produce Safety Rule

• On December 2, 2021, the FDA released the proposed Subpart E - Agricultural Water Testing requirements of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule. This proposed rule would replace previous language related to agricultural water in the FSMA rule.
• Learn about the proposed rule, and best practices for testing agricultural water to protect produce safety.

Build a low-cost handwashing station for food safety on the farm

• Hand washing is one of the most important steps you can take to reduce the risk of contaminating your fruits and vegetables with illness-causing pathogens.
• Learn how to build your own low-cost portable handwashing station.

Toilets on the farm

• Clean and accessible toilet facilities must be available on the farm site for all workers and visitors to use.

• Proper field sanitation helps reduce the potential for contaminating produce and helps protect workers and consumers from foodborne diseases.

Cleaning and sanitizing tools, harvest containers and surfaces

• All reusable harvest containers, tools and food contact surfaces should be kept as clean as possible and regularly sanitized.

• Sanitizing can be done with a number of products.

Hmong language videos: mixing sanitizers, cleaning and sanitizing tools

• Cleaning and sanitizing tools.
• How to mix sanitizers.
• Keep it clean on the farm.
• Washing vegetables using the triple wash technique.

Produce wash-water sanitizers

• Washing fresh produce with potable water treated with a sanitizing agent reduces illness-causing pathogens.

• To maintain appropriate levels of sanitizer in your wash water, use test strips or another method to verify the concentration after each addition of sanitizer.

• Always read and follow the sanitizer label instructions.

Food safety for flooded fields

• Floodwaters can introduce contaminants into farm fields, which can make produce unsafe to eat.
• Throw away produce that comes into direct contact with floodwaters.
• Wait at least 30-60 days before replanting flooded fields with vegetables. If heavy metal or high levels of contamination are suspected, wait at least 60 days.

Testing well water and surface water for fruit and vegetable production

• Water used for handwashing, produce washing and rinsing, frost protection, irrigation, drinking and other uses on the farm should be tested.
• When testing water, labs look for harmful pathogens such as generic E. coli., an indicator of fecal contamination.
• It is important to properly collect the water for an accurate result.

Water testing for the FSMA Produce Safety Rule

• As a part of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, farms covered by the rule are required to test agricultural water used in producing fresh produce for generic E. coli.
• These labs test agricultural water used in producing fresh produce for E. coli.
• On December 2, 2021, the FDA released the proposed Subpart E - Agricultural Water Testing requirements of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule. This proposed rule would replace the previous language related to agricultural water in the FSMA rule.
• Learn about the proposed rule and best practices for testing agricultural water to protect produce safety.

UMN on-farm food safety videos

This playlist of short videos includes versions in Spanish and Hmong.