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Bilingual Produce Safety Education

Learn more about Produce Farm Food Safety for Produce Growers and Farmworkers in Pennsylvania with the following resources.
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Updated:
January 9, 2023
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    Bilingual Produce Safety Education

    The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) mandates science-based approaches to evaluating food safety risks on produce farms and in food processing facilities. The Produce Safety Rule specifically mandates farm food safety trainings at two levels. At least one supervisor or responsible party on the farm must have successfully completed food safety training. Also, the regulation further states that all personnel who handle produce or food-contact surfaces must receive farm food safety and hygiene training upon hiring and at least once annually, training must be conducted in a manner that is easily understood by those being trained.

    With funding provided by a USDA NIFA Award number 2017-70020-27236, Penn State Extension has developed a suite of educational materials in English and Spanish to help food safety managers who attended the Food Safety Modernization Act's Produce Safety Rule training to communicate the knowledge to others on the farm.

    Below you will find a booklet and a series of videos and articles that will help you bring the information you learned at the Produce Safety Rule training to the farm. The information includes additional good agricultural practices not required by FSMA but important to consider when implementing a food safety best practices when growing fruits and vegetables. In addition, the following educational materials include sections on the topics most commonly needed for worker training.

    Best Practices Booklet

    Best Practices for Fresh Produce Food Safety: Good Agricultural Practices, Worker Hygiene, and Sources of Contamination

    This booklet helps farm managers to provide food safety training to employees working in the farm on:

    • Introduction to Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) (pp. 2–8)
    • Worker Health and Hygiene (pp. 9–18)
    • Preventing Contamination Before, During, and After Harvest (pp. 19–24)

    These sections can be used individually or as a series as a basis for training workers.

    English booklet: Best Practices for Fresh Produce Food Safety

    Spanish booklet: Las Mejores Prácticas Para La Inocuidad De Los Productos Agrícolas Frescos 

    Good Agricultural Practices Resources

    Food Safety Field Training Kit for Fresh Produce Handlers

    This flip chart provides food safety tips in both English and Spanish to help train fresh produce handlers. (Guía de entrenamiento en seguridad de los alimentos para productores de vegetales frescos.)

    Good Agricultural Practices Posters

    These printable color posters are now available to help train employees and visitors on important food safety practices implemented on farms and in packinghouses.

    Introduction to Good Agricultural Practices

    This video and companion article explains why GAPs are important, discusses sources of contamination, and presents some of the challenges to maintaining food safety.

    English

    Spanish

    Farm Worker Health and Hygiene Basic Rules

    This video and companion article explains why are proper health and hygiene important, discusses the sources of human contamination, provides the basic rules to prevent contamination, and details the components of worker training.

    English

    Spanish

    Preventing Contamination Before, During, and After Harvest

    This video and companion article explains why we should we prevent contamination before, during, and after harvest, and provides best practices.

    English

    Spanish

    Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Resources

    Penn State Extension is helping produce growers, food processors, and feed manufacturers prepare for new regulatory standards required under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) of 2011.

    This a series of seven videos and articles developed to clarify the content of some of the main topics discussed in the Produce Safety Rule. The following topics are included below: soil amendments, zone concept, pest management, visitors, hands washing, personal hygiene and training requirements. The companion articles will help you to follow along the videos and they also summarize the information provided.

    Soil Amendments

    Soil amendment is any chemical, biological, or physical material intentionally added to the soil to improve the chemical or physical condition of soil in relation to plant growth or to improve the capacity of the soil to hold water.

    The article and video will help you understand the importance of considering the types of soil amendments that you might use in the farm and the risks they may pose to the produce that is being grown.

    English

    Spanish

    The Zone Concept

    The produce safety rule requires the inspection, maintenance, cleaning and, when necessary and appropriate, sanitizing of all food contact surfaces on equipment and tools used during pre- and post-harvest farm activities to protect against contamination of produce intended or likely to be eaten raw covered under the rule.

    The article and video will help you understand the meaning of each four zones based on the level of risk of contamination that each is exposed to. The use of the Zone Concept helps you better target cleaning and sanitation efforts in the packinghouse according to the risk they represent.

    English

    Spanish

    Pest Management

    Pests represent an important risk to food safety, since birds, rodents and some insects can be a source of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. This is the reason why the Produce Safety Rule requires that companies take all reasonably necessary measures to protect covered produce, food contact surfaces, and food-packing materials from becoming contaminated by pests.

    The article and video provides useful recommendations that can help you meet industry standards and best practices that help prevent pest in farms. 

    English

    Spanish

    Visitors

    The produce safety rule defines a visitor as any person, other than farm's personnel, who enters the farm with permission.

    The article and video will help you understand the requirements of the Produce Safety Rule in regards to visitors and the need to make them aware of farm's food safety policies and procedures for protecting covered produce and food contact surfaces from contamination by people.

    English

    Spanish

    Handwashing

    Hand washing is the single most important food safety practice in the farm.

    The article and video will help you comply with the produce safety rule requirements in regards to workers that handle produce or food contact surfaces need to wash their hands thoroughly to prevent cross contamination.

    English

    Spanish

    Personal Hygiene

    Food safety training is a key component in any food safety program. The  produce safety rule has a series of requirements when it comes to the training of personnel working in a farm.

    The article and video will help you comply with the rule's requirements that all personnel who handle produce or food contact surfaces and their supervisors must have a combination of education, training, and experience necessary to perform their assigned duties.

    English

    Spanish

    Training Requirements

    Personal hygiene is essential to prevent the introduction and spread of microbes in the growing, packing or holding environment where people work.

    The article and video will help you understand best practices to comply with the produce safety rule's requirement in regards to personnel use of hygienic practices while working with produce or food contact surfaces to protect them from contamination. 

    English

    Spanish

    Maria Gorgo-Simcox
    Maria Gorgo-Simcox
    Extension Educator, Horticulture
    Expertise
    • Commercial Horticulture (Green Industry, Vegetable, Tree and Small Fruit and, Mushroom Productions)
    • Integrated Pest Management
    • Farm Food Safety - FSMA and GAP
    • Latino Community Outreach
    • Beginning Farmer
    • Conservation Practice
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