WIREDGOV

A new guide to help UK growers keep their produce free from microbial contamination has been published by the Agency and the Horticultural Development Company (HDC).

'Monitoring microbial food safety of fresh produce' provides information on the main foodborne disease-causing bacteria and viruses that can contaminate crops, how growers can monitor levels of possible contamination and how good hygiene practice can reduce the risk of crop contamination.

It can be downloaded from the link at the end of the page.

Food grown in the UK meets some of the highest standards in the world and the number of foodborne illness outbreaks thought to be linked with fresh produce in the UK is relatively small. The main concern for these crops is surface contamination by bacteria including Salmonella, E.coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Camplyobacter jejuni; and by viruses, such as Norovirus and Hepatitis A. Although thorough cooking will destroy these pathogens, washing produce that is eaten uncooked, such as fruit and salads, does not remove these contaminants effectively enough.

Crops in the UK are mostly grown in open fields and surface contamination can be caused in a number of ways, including:

• heavy rainfall washing livestock manure from one field to another and into streams and rivers used to irrigate crops
• poor staff hygiene
• badly composted manure
• poor cleaning of equipment and boxes

It is therefore extremely important that growers follow good hygiene practices during production to minimise the risk of contamination.

The guide is the first step in a programme of work to address growers' need for clear and consistent information on how to ensure their produce is as safe as possible. The guide will be followed by the launch of web-based risk assessment tools and a 'Keeping it clean' roadshow.

The programme is a result of an Agency review of production practices ithat was carried out to understand more about how UK growers address the risks of microbial contamination of their crops.

Feedback from the study identified that growers needed better guidance on microbial testing, and more guidance in interpreting the relative risks in the areas of water, manure and worker hygiene.