1. © Intellectual Property of Markon 2017
5-Star Food Safety
© Intellectual Property of Markon 2017

2. What is Markon Cooperative?
A purchasing and marketing cooperative founded in 1985
Headquartered in Salinas, CA
Seven independent foodservice distributors - serving operators from more than 70 locations in U.S. and Canada
$24 Billion in annual sales

3. Markon Mission Statement
To continually enhance the produce, the packaging, and product information available exclusively to our members and their foodservice customers so that produce serves as a meaningful point of differentiation for both.
Read Mission Statement. Very good explanation of what Markon is, and does.

4. The Markon Mission Defines & verifies food safety
5-Star Food Safety® Program (Markon brand grower-shippers)
Baseline Food Safety Program (other grower-shippers)
Manages quality assurance
Daily/weekly inspections of fields & facilities

5. Why is Food Safety Important?
Consumers expect their food to be safe
Everyone in the supply chain has a responsibility
If someone gets sick from your establishment, the illness will most likely be associated with the establishment not necessarily the supplier

6. The Produce Supply Chain simplified!!
Fields
Growing
Harvesting
Facilities
Cooler
Packing House
Processing facility
Transportation
Trucks
Rail Cars
Distribution Center
Consolidator
Commissary
Kitchen

7. Fields: Growing & Harvesting
Good Agricultural Practices
Best practices for fields and harvest crew
Irrigation water
quality verification
Wash water
quality and sanitizer verification
Worker Hygiene Program
Hand washing, restrooms
Traceability
Mock Recalls

8. Examples of food safety incidents
Food Safety Concern
Food Safety Incident Report
Risk Assessment
Determine Appropriate Corrective Action

9. Food Safety Concern
Animal Intrusion: Additional canine tracks found on the furrows on the north west side of Block 2

10. Food Safety Incident Report
Location
Commodity
Grower/harvester
Incident category (animal intrusion/feeding/feces/tracks, policy breach)
Corrective action (buffer, harvest detained, product on hold)

11. The harvest crew has placed totes on the ground, however food safety policy indicates that totes be stored on a pallet or a cardboard slip. Once these totes are filled with product they are stacked on top of each other. If a totes has mud or contamination on the bottom, it could drip and contaminate product on the pallet below it.

12. This is a policy breach where an employee is storing their harvest knife in his boot. This incident resulted in an employee retraining and tool sanitation.

13. These may look like premature lettuce heads, however this is actually an incident of rabbit feeding. Likely the rabbits are living across this dirt road in the wooded area.

14. Facilities: Processing, Packing, Cooling
Good Manufacturing Practices
Water
Quality and sanitizer verification
Environmental Monitoring Program
Targeting Listeria Spp.
Sanitation Program Review
Worker Hygiene Program
Hand washing, personnel protective equipment (gloves, hairnets, aprons)
Traceability
Mock Recalls
Environmental monitoring is similar to when you go to the Doctor and they take a swab from the back of your throat, except inside a facility you are taking swabs of the table the lettuce is being packed on and instead of testing for strep you test for listeria.
Sanitation consists of 2 steps, first getting rid of physical debris and next sanitizing to eliminate any microbes that may be invisible to the naked eye.
There is nothing like having a Markon employee at a facility, this program really sets us apart. These visits focus on verifying with our suppliers that the food safety documentation we review is congruent with what we observe. For example, we will receive documentation on a pest control program that may have a map with 22 rodent traps, during our audit we will walk the facility identifying the 22 traps and ensuring they are in good repair and properly placed and functioning.

15. BEFORE: Food contact surface with heavy organic build up
Porous food contact surface, can not be sanitized
Gaps in cleaning and sanitation
Tomato repack line with porous surface that could not be sanitized

16. AFTER: Markon accepted corrective action
Replaced curtains, updated cleaning and sanitation procedures
Corrective Action Markon required

17. BEFORE: Damaged processing belt
Damaged food contact surface, can not be sanitized

18. AFTER: New belt installed
Smooth food contact surface that can be sanitized

19. Product traceability
Trace back coding on both the inner and outer packaging allowing for trace each carton back to the field level
Grower
Field
Crew
Pack Date

20. Transportation Trailer loading checklists Temperature monitors
Good repair
Overall cleanliness
Best pallet loading placement
Temperature
Temperature monitors
This covers trucks that pull up to your loading doc delivering product to your distribution center. This star focuses on cleanliness.
Temperature or cold chain management is essential during transportation. Markon utilizes temperature monitors, which are inserting into loads and alert Markon customer service and Shamrock purchasing of any truck when the temperature reaches > 40 F. The issue can be addressed with the carrier and adjustments can be made to get the temperature back down to proper range.

21. Distribution Centers Distribution Center Best Practices
Dedicated quality assurance
Warehouse temperature zones
keep all products at their optimum temperatures
Worker Hygiene Program
Traceability
Mock Recalls

22. Mock Recalls Mock recalls to ensure product traceability
The Markon Produce App provides real time alerts on food safety related incidents
Ensures effective communication throughout the supply chain

23. Kitchen Storage & handling information Worker Hygiene Program
Color coding
Handwashing
Markon provides tools for proper storage and handling that can be shared with your customers at the kitchen level.

24. Ask a food safety expert

25. We’re not just selling produce…. We’re selling confidence.
Markon
We’re not just selling produce…. We’re selling confidence.

26. Thank you! Lianna Kelly Food Safety Director Markon Cooperative, Inc.
Markon.com