REP13/FH JOINT FAO/WHO FOOD STANDARDS PROGRAMME ...

REP13/FH Appendix IV 54
Medical examination of agricultural workers should be carried out if clinically or epidemiologically
indicated.
3.2.3.3 Personal cleanliness
When personnel are permitted to continue working with cuts and wounds covered by waterproof dressings,
they should wear gloves to cover the bandages thereby providing a secondary barrier between them and the
berries they handle or, otherwise they should be reassigned to another working area where they do not
handle berries directly.
3.2.4 Equipment associated with growing and harvesting
Standard operating practices should be developed for the maintenance, cleaning and disinfecting operations
of growing and harvesting equipment, which include the following:
Containers used repeatedly during harvest should be cleaned after each load.
Containers (including liners of containers made from biodegradable materials) that are no longer
cleanable should be disposed of since they may increase the risk of microbial contamination of
berries.
Harvesting containers should not be placed directly on the ground.
If the containers are stored outside, they should be cleaned and disinfected before being used to
transport berries.
3.3 Handling, Storage and Transport
Some berries may have high respiration rates making them more perishable. Enzymes and biochemical
reactions play an important role in the ripening process but also accelerate spoilage of damaged fruits and
increase susceptibility of berries to microbial contamination.
Growers should implement safe handling, transport and storage practices and immediately cool berries after
harvesting. Precooling (i.e., rapid removal of field heat) berries after harvesting (e.g. within the first 2 hours)
is important to maintain freshness and quality and contributes to the control of foodborne pathogens. When
required, growers should use potable water for ice and hydrocooler when precooling to minimize risks of
contamination.
Manual harvest considerations:
o Appearance and firmness of berries are commonly associated with fruit quality and freshness. Over
handling the berries may damage and affect fruit quality. Moreover, adverse temperatures during
harvesting in hot and/or humid weather also decreases quality and may affect food safety due to
fruit damage and juice leakage, which may spread contamination over healthy fruits.
o Growers should have a responsible person to supervise harvesting at all times to assure
harvesters use proper hand washing and follow procedures not to harvest wet, bruised and/or
damaged fruits. Additionally, berries that have fallen on the ground should be discarded unless
they are processed with a microbiocidal step.
o Growers should take measures to train agricultural workers on safe handling, transport and storage
practices to ensure that berries are immediately cooled after harvesting.
Mechanical harvest considerations:
o Mechanical harvest is a common practice for some berries and may create food safety hazards if
the equipment breaks down during the harvest, if it has received poor maintenance and cleaning or
if it damages the fruit.
o Growers should avoid moving harvesting equipment across fields where manure or compost was
applied.
o Before and after harvesting growers should perform proper cleaning and disinfection of all surfaces
of equipments that have been in contact with berries. Moreover harvesting equipment should be
cleaned and disinfected seasonally or as needed (e.g. if the equipment runs over an area with
heavy animal intrusion and faecal deposits).