A recently-published literature review, which was federally funded and led by the Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety, evaluates the food safety risks of harvesting dropped and drooping produce. The study was prompted by widespread misunderstanding and noncompliance issues among growers regarding the Produce Safety Rule (PSR) of the Food Safety Modernization Act; the specific provision in question states that growers must not harvest dropped produce because it poses a microbiological contamination hazard. The review seeks to inform growers’ risk management decisions by investigating the risk factors that influence pathogen transferability when produce is dropped, as well as the risks associated with harvesting dropped or drooping produce that is covered under the PSR.

The PSR states that growers must not distribute dropped produce that is covered under the Rule. Covered produce includes produce that is dropped to the ground before harvest, but does not include crops that grow underground, grow on the ground, or are intentionally dropped to the ground as part of harvest. Dropped produce also includes drooping produce, which is defined by the review as produce that is grown off the ground, but touches the ground before harvest while still attached to the plant on which it grows. However, growers can harvest dropped produce in compliance with the PSR by demonstrating that the dropped produce will undergo an adequate kill step before distribution. Neither the PSR nor the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provide a specific definition of “ground” as it relates to dropped produce, however.