Despite existing knowledge gaps about the on-farm transmission of Cyclospora, UD’s Produce Safety Alliance Training can help growers improve overall microbiological food safety with information on safe water use and microbial risk mitigation.

“While there is great uncertainty about how Cyclospora originally may have contaminated the iceberg lettuce [in the current outbreak], or how it contaminates other produce commodities, growers should continue to develop comprehensive food safety programs that focus on prevention and risk management,” said Kali Kniel, Ph.D., M.S., the Unidel S. Hallock du Pont Chair of Microbial Food Safety at UD. “This is important and must never be replaced by product or water testing. You cannot test your way to food safety.”

Dr. Kniel also emphasized the importance of traceability, saying growers should always be able to trace their produce “one step forward and one step back” in case of a food safety incident so that recalls can be issued. This is especially important as the compliance date for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Food Traceability Rule nears.

The Produce Safety Alliance Training leads farmers, food safety professionals, farmers market vendors, and fresh produce system stakeholders through seven modules that involve hands-on demonstrations and handouts. Participants learn an introduction to produce safety, worker health hygiene and training, soil amendments, wildlife, domestic animal and land use, agricultural water, post-harvest handling and sanitation, and how to develop a farm food safety plan.

Nearly 600 farmers across Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have completed the training over the last decade.

Learn more about UD’s Produce Safety Alliance Training here.