Field tomato food safety guide
Click here to download the Field Tomato Food Safety Guide (8 MB, PDF)
There are many microbes in the environment, a small number of which have the potential to cause food poisoning. A well managed quality assurance and food safety system can prevent an outbreak of food borne contamination on the farm.
The keys to marketing safe fresh produce are good agricultural practices during growing and harvesting and good hygiene and sanitation practices in the packing shed. Field tomato growers can reduce their risk of microbial contamination of fruit by understanding industry guidelines and implementing a food safety program across the entire farm.
This Guide is designed to assist growers to identify key areas of concern and to suggest improvement in practice and procedure that can easily be implemented on farm. Most growers won’t have to do much beyond current practices; however the Guide might act as a timely reminder of things to be done.
How to use the Guide
The Guide is divided into Field and Packhouse sections with different topics in each of these sections. The main sections are coloured coded and the topic title can be found at the top and bottom of each page.
Each topic has a QR Code printed on the page. A QR Code (Quick Response Code) is a bar code that can be scanned on a mobile phone and contains a wide range of information. If you have a smart phone, and have one of the many free QR Code reading apps installed, simply take a picture of the QR code and the full topic version will be downloaded to your phone. Free QR Code scanners are available for both iOS and android devices.
Copyright protects this publication. Except for the purpose permitted by the Copyright Act, reproduction of text or individual images by whatever means is prohibited without prior written permission of Horticulture Australia Limited or the original source.
The project has been funded by Horticulture Australia Limited using voluntary contributions with matched funds from the Australian Government.
The project leader acknowledges the assistance of Richard Bennett, Fresh Produce Safety Centre Australia & New Zealand; tomato growers and industry staff who gave freely of their time to inform the project.
Any recommendations contained in this publication do not necessarily represent current Horticulture Australia Limited policy. No person should act on the basis of the contents of this publication, whether as to matters of fact or opinion or other content, without first obtaining specific, independent professional advice in respect of the matters set out in this public.
Click here to download the Field Tomato Food Safety Guide (8 MB, PDF)
