A survey sent to stakeholders in the fresh produce sector found industry community members’ top food safety priority to be employee health and hygiene, while those serving in upper management roles ranked adjacent land use to be of the most importance. Although grower and technical assistance groups ranked priorities similarly, differences also emerged between small- and large-scale operations.
Supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (USDA’s NIFA’s) Specialty Crops Research Initiative, a survey was developed by three produce industry experts across three university institutions, which was then reviewed by eight additional experts across seven government and university institutions. Respondents were asked to identify and rank their top five food safety priorities for the produce industry from a list of 24 priorities that were chosen to reflect emerging topics of concern and criteria of the Produce Safety Rule (PSR) under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FDA’s FSMA).