1. Food safety for school gardens
Dr. Ben Chapman and Ashley Chaifetz
North Carolina State University
NC Cooperative Extension

3. Foodborne illness in the US
48 million cases of foodborne illness
127,839 hospitalizations
3,037 deaths

5. Producers and processors
Restaurants
Food safety in the home
Retail stores
Volunteers

6. Who is at most risk? Carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, locavore
All at risk for foodborne illness
Bacteria are blind to source, they don’t care whether the product they live in is sold at a retail store or farmers market

7. Produce-related outbreaks
Over 500 since 1990
Tens of Thousands of illnesses
Leafy greens
Tomatoes
Melons
Berries
Fresh herbs

8. E. coli O157:H7, lettuce, California, 1996
lettuce greens -- radicchio, frisee arugula – harvested, rinsed,packaged into premix salads at Fancy Cutt Farms Inc., California
61 people sick, E. coli O157:H7 in eastern U.S.; 35%hospitalized
3-year-old Connecticut girl HUS, damaged vision
cattle pen next to salad washing area
routes of contamination were all around

9. E. coli O157:H7, lettuce, California, 1996
lettuce grown in fields where cattle grazed in winter
no handwashing facilities
failed to chlorinate wash water from well, physically lower than cattle barn
despite failings, company continued to operate
"Why haven't I been closed down? Why haven't I been sued? It's very simple. We were cleared of it." Fancy Cutt president, Robert Chavez

10. Spinach linked E. coli O157 outbreak 2006 200 people, 26 states, 3 dead

11. Garden-to-fork continuum
Raw product (pre-harvest)

12. Farm-to-fork continuum
Raw product (pre-harvest)
Harvest

13. Farm-to-fork continuum
Raw product (pre-harvest)
Harvest
Processing & Storage (post-harvest)

14. There’s not a whole lot of data available about food safety in gardens.

15. Identified are key areas of risk and best garden practices:
Site Selection
Water
Compost
Animals
Handwashing
Sanitation
Tools
Volunteers

16. The best practice: obtain the history of the site from planning officials.
If the history is unavailable, ask around.
Learning along the way is tough. The history of the site could divulge the potential for an incredible amount of flooding or animal troubles
Site Selection
What’s the safety risk?
There are many unfortunate risks that come from not knowing the history of the site, including the proximity to other risks: flooding, animal crossing, chemicals and metals in the soil, and run-off.

17. Hands

18. Handwashing
The best practice: wash hands with soap and clean, running water, and dry using a one-use towel. Wear disposable, single-use gloves while harvesting.
If there is no running water available, still wear disposable, single-use gloves while harvesting. If the task is maintenance-only, traditional gardening gloves are fine.
Hand sanitizing is not washing. Use it only in conjunction with other practices.
What’s the safety risk? Spreading potentially harmful microorganisms and cross-contamination. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that over 50% of foodborne illnesses are linked to poor handwashing. In the garden, hands are used for most tasks. Pathogens are easily spread through hands, but it’s easy to lower the risk.
There is a “best way” to wash your hands. Wet hands with clean running water (warm or cold) and apply soap. This soap does not need to be any sort of special soap. Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub them well; scrub the backs of hands, between fingers, and under nails.Rinse hands well under running water. Dry hands using a single-use towel. ALSO: BEST-BEST with scrub brush.

19. Managing water

20. Water
The best practice: use a tested water source (municipal or city).
Get the water tested and make sure it is up to EPA drinking water standards before you use it for watering or washing.
Without knowing about the safety of your water, you could be introducing pathogens into your garden.
Minimize the potential of microbial contamination from water used with fruits and vegetables by establishing a clean and safe source.
How is the best way to water?
Using drip irrigation or watering with cans at the base of plants is the best way to water and reduce water to the edible portion of the plant, minimizing risk. Drip irrigation is more efficient than spray watering, as it can be timed and rationed, but when it is impractical or inconvenient, traditional hand watering is acceptable.

21. Compost
The best practice: use certified compost. If self-composting, place compost bin away from garden. Use a long-stemmed thermometer to check that compost has been 130F for at least 3 days.
If the compost is already in use, create barriers to keep the contents from getting into the garden, with careful attention on flooding.
Do not use animal feces in the compost.
What’s the safety risk? Compost that has not registered 130°F for at least 3 days is likely full of pathogens. Additionally, the location of the compost bin poses its own problems.
LOCATION: we don’t want the compost seeping into the garden.
USAGE: we don’t want compost that isn’t ”ready” to be used in the garden as mulch or an amendment.
ALSO: Turn compost. TAKE TEMPERATURE. Vermiculture.

22. Recent outbreak linked to deer droppings
35 acre farm
1 death, 14 illnesses
Six samples of deer poop from Jaquith Strawberry Farm in Oregon tested positive for the E. coli O157:H7 strain
The positive tests probably indicate that deer around Jaquith’s property carry O157:H7

23. The best practice: use a fence to keep out animals (domestic and wild).
If a fence is out of the question, use repellents and sprays to keep out the known pests. Maintain records and attempt to prevent them from entering the garden.
Just because the animals are not visiting the garden when the gardeners are does not mean they are not in the garden.
Animals
When considering the garden’s design, one should think a lot about how to keep animals out of the garden, both domestic and wild. Not only can animals be a problem in eating plants, fruits and vegetables, they can also be the source of foodborne illness-causing contamination. Animal manure is a major source of foodborne illness causing pathohens (Salmonella. Campylocbacter, Shigella, E. coli) and keeping animals out of the garden is the best way to prevent such an event. Even domestic pets, like dogs, should also be kept out of the garden as they can carry and shed pathogens like Salmonella. While scarecrows are considered to be helpful, they can only keep out birds.
While electric fencing might be the best option for keeping out various kinds of animals, its cost is prohibitive for many young (and old) gardens. Some gardens even have electric fencing only around the top or bottom of a mesh fence, so that animals cannot crawl over.
Deer droppings have been the source of E. coli outbreaks—and on small farms. A tall fence is likely the best way to keep out deer, but opossums, chipmunks, squirrels, and raccoons will be much more difficult. Given the opportunity, birds will next, leaving their droppings in the garden. Take steps to keep them from residing nearby, from trimming overhanging branches to making it in an unattractive place for birds to nest.

24. Sanitation and tools
The best practice is to wear single-use, latex gloves when harvesting and put the fruits and vegetables into clean and sanitized containers.
If there are no gloves available, wash your hands. If you are unsure when the containers were last washed, put the harvest into new plastic bags instead.
Do not re-use plastic bags or put the harvest into wooden/cardboard/waxed boxes or unwashed buckets.
In the community gardens, most likely, the gardeners are going to take the produce home or donate it to a non-profit organization. The lowest risk “best practice” in terms of contamination is not to wash the harvest until its time to be consumed. The harvest should be stored in a cool, pest-free area, away from any household chemicals. However, it must be washed before eating.

25. Volunteer management Do not treat the gardeners like employees.
The best way to make sure the safety procedures are enacted is to explain why they need to be done
Prepare an orientation
Make it easy to follow the procedures and obtain answers to questions
Set the standard
Volunteer management
1. Do not treat the gardeners like employees. Gently (and regularly if necessary) remind everyone of the safety procedures.
2. Prepare an orientation. When there are new volunteers or students or gardeners, explain the procedures before they get started. By starting with handwashing on the first day, he or she will likely to continue to wash with each visit.
3. Consider the differences. Various ways to learn exist; some people are better hands-on, while others are auditory learners, for example.
4. Explain why. The best way to make sure food safety procedures are enacted is to explain why they must be done. Explain the history and the mission of the safety plan.
5. Make it easy to follow the procedures and obtain answers to any questions. Post the standard operating procedures (or Food Safety InfoSheets) throughout the garden so that everyone can see them. Also, create an accessible binder of the procedures so that when the garden manager is not there, the volunteers and gardeners have a reference manual of sorts.
6. Set the standard. The garden managers and coordinators must show their commitment to the procedures. If they wash their hands, the others are likely to do so as well.
7. Put the impetus on the government. The GAP Guidelines require farms to post signs and provide training; a garden is much like a small farm and must take similar measures to stay safe. It is acceptable to tell the gardeners that the rules are required.

26. chapmanfoodsafety.wordpress.com/garden

27. Dr. Ben Chapman
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