Victoria Toney is the Produce Safety Technician for the Michigan On-Farm Produce Safety. She can be reached at by Victoria.Toney@macd.org or (269) 471-9111 ext. 3052.

Consumers everywhere may hear about recalls pertaining to their food supply — in particular, the outbreaks in romaine lettuce. It happened this year, and it occurred last year as well around Thanksgiving. Consumers were warned not to eat lettuce recently that was grown in Salinas Valley, California. This is the most important detail to note and could help steer the consumer to a locally grown source — right here in Michigan. A recall can affect the fresh produce industry as a whole, and it helps if the consumer is familiar with where their food is grown. There are many types of lettuce, including romaine, grown locally along with many other fresh fruits and vegetables. It is important to know whether your supply chain is safe, but it is equally important to know where the food originates.

Michigan On-Farm Produce Safety is working with fresh produce farms on a voluntary and confidential basis to help create a food safety culture on the farm. Education is a crucial step in helping to grow and harvest fresh produce with low-risk practices to aid in the prevention of microbial contamination. Microbial contamination includes foodborne illnesses, such as Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli contamination, that can all equally cause gastrointestinal disruption and other illness. It is especially important to prevent illness in high-risk population that include the elderly, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and young children.

Local farms can participate in a Produce Safety Risk Assessment through their local conservation district all across the state. This risk assessment helps the farm gain a better understanding of their operation and gives the farm additional confidence in their operation. If a farm participates and completes a risk assessment, they are able to get a certificate of completion from the program. This certificate could be used at the farm stand, farmers market or any point-of-purchase to help the consumer identify farms that are adopting a food safety culture on the farm. This may help direct the consumer to this particular farm and may even prompt the consumer to ask questions about the certificate, thus aiding in educating the consumer on where their food is grown.

Produce safety is for everyone from the farmer to the consumer. Reach out to your local conservation district today to request a risk assessment for your operation or if you are a consumer with questions.