STRAWBERRY GROWERS N.Z. Inc

FOOD SAFETY,QUALITY and COOL CHAIN

MANAGEMENTAugust 2011

STRAWBERRY GROWERS N.Z. INC11 Grenville Street, Lower Hutt. Ph 04-569 8263. Fax 04-569-8264. Website: www.strawbsnz.co.nz Email: propco@xtra.co.nz

Produced with the support of The Sustainable Farming Fund Project

Table of Contents

Introduction

Previous Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Recommended Handling Guide for Growers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Cleaning and Sanitising Guidelines in the Packhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Guideline Strawberry Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Forced-Air Cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Guideline on Temperature Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Traceability and Labelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

New Zealand Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) for the Strawberry Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

NZGAP Section C Grower Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

NZGAP Section D Packhouse & Wholesale Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Wholesale / Transport Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Retailer Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Useful Website References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SGNZ Food Safety, Quality and Cool Chain Management. Aug 2011.

IntroductionThis project was funded by The Sustainable Farming Fund and Strawberry Growers New Zealand along withProgressive Enterprises Limited, MG Marketing and a range of industry partners.

The objectives of the project were to:

• Understand any food safety risks associated with how strawberries are grown and handled in NewZealand.

• Understand the cool chain management of strawberries in New Zealand and where improvements couldbe made.

• Provide the information in a manner that allows growers to use the findings within their existing QualityAssurance and Food Safety programmes.

At the time of producing this booklet, a new Food Bill to replace the outdated Food Act 1981 had beenintroduced to Parliament. Once this Act is passed, strawberry growers will need to comply with increasedfood safety requirements.

The NZGAP Programme V5 (November 2009) has been reviewed. A summary of materials gained from thisproject as they relate to NZGAP has been developed.

The following documents have been developed as summaries of the findings. These are all available on theStrawberry Grower New Zealand website in the members only login area. If you require a log in please emailpropco@xtra.co.nz, attention Antonia Crawford.

Summary of Documents

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2008: Recommended handling guide for Growers, Transporters, Wholesalers and Retailers.This interim summary provided an outline of knowledge to that point and provides an overview of issuesidentified at each step of the supply chain. Copies are available from Strawberry Growers New Zealand Inc.and on the website: www.strawbsnz.co.nz. Recommended Handling Guide for Growers (page 2) andWholesale/Transport/Retail Guidelines (page 10) are updates of this document.

Food Safety

2011 Guideline on Cleaning and Sanitising in the Packhouse: Provides step by step details of how toclean and sanitise in the packhouse.

2011 Self Audit Check List: Intended to assist growers review their food safety handling processes andidentify any areas that may require further attention. Available from Strawberry Growers New Zealand.

2011 Strawberry Specific HACCP: for New Zealand production conditions.This HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) is designed for typical New Zealand growing andpacking conditions. It is intended to assist growers to review their processes based upon existing scientificknowledge. It summarises possible food safety and quality issues at each step of the production andhandling process. It is a major document and can contribute to the establishment of a food safetyprogramme (or food control plan). Available from Strawberry Growers New Zealand. This will become moreimportant as the new Food Bill passes into Law.

Quality and Cool Chain Management

2011 Guideline on Temperature Management: This is the outcome of work undertaken over the years intypical strawberry production systems in New Zealand. The guideline aims to help growers optimize howtemperature management for fruit is undertaken throughout the supply chain.

2011: NZGAP for the Strawberry Industry: Draws together the knowledge gained and integrates it into theNZGAP November 2009 Version 5 format.

Guideline Strawberry Specifications: A guideline for achieving quality in the final product. Also availablefrom SGNZ as a poster.

Forced-Air Cooling introduces a system for use in existing coolstores.

Traceability and Labelling: Background information on labelling and tracing produce.

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Recommended Handling Guide for Growers

Have a food safety and quality system in place. This is increasingly a requirement for many customers.

Provide staff training and induction that includes food safety, fruit quality and fruit handling.

Monitor by recording and checking your systems.

Picking

• Pick fruit to perfection - refer to Guideline Specifications.

• Clean and sanitise picking containers – refer to Cleaning and Sanitising Guideline.

• Ensure picker's hands are sanitised before starting and at each break.

• Ensure adequate toilet and hand washing facilities in the field.

• Get fruit out of sun and into packhouse in as short a time as possible (30 minute maximum).

• Pre-cool fruit (within a 1 hour maximum) prior to packing where possible.

Packing and cooling

• Have a cleaning and sanitising programme for all packhouse areas – refer to Cleaning and SanitisingGuideline.

• Ensure grader's hands are sanitised before starting and at each break.

• Label all punnets grower/brand name, address and weight if required.

• Cool fruit in accordance with the Temperature Management Guideline.

• Keep records of fruit temperature by shipment.

• It is recommended that growers consult with their customers prior to the season to ascertain theirparticular requirements.

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Cleaning and Sanitising Guidelines in the Packhouse

Planning for cleaning and sanitising

• Provide a non permeable surface for all fruit contact areas (eg: stainless steel).• Use food-grade detergents and sanitisers. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions.• Drip-dry equipment or use clean towels where this is not possible.• Single use paper towels are better than cloths. If you use cloths, they must be washed in hot

(not warm) water and allowed to dry after every use.• Ensure equipment used for cleaning is also kept clean.• Educate staff on correct cleaning and sanitising procedures.• Provide regular checks on cleaning carried out and instruct staff where required.• Make sure containers for waste are large enough, emptied regularly and capable of being easily

cleaned.

Six-steps to proper cleaning and sanitising of picking containers

1. Pre-clean: Scrape or wipe debris and rinse with water.2. Wash: Use hot water and detergent to take off dirt. Soak if needed.3. Rinse: Rinse off any loose dirt or detergent foam.4. Sanitise: Use a sanitiser to kill any remaining germs.5. Final Rinse: Wash off sanitiser (read the sanitiser's instructions to see if you need to do this).6. Dry: Allow to drip-dry

How to sanitise

Soak items in water (around 13°C) that contains bleach:

Household bleach (4% chlorine) Commercial bleach (10% chlorine)5 litres 12.5mL 5mL10 litres 25mL 10mL50 litres 125mL 50mL

Or use food-grade sanitisers in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.For details of how to develop a cleaning procedure and a cleaning schedule go to Food Industry FactSheet 11: Cleaning and Sanitising

This information is provided courtesy of the Queensland Government, Australia. http://www.health.qld.gov.au

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Forced-Air Cooling

The use of a forced air cooling (true 'pre-cooling') is beneficial at the final coolstore stage. This rapidly andevenly reduces the fruit temperature of an entire pallet of packed product to close to the target storagetemperature. The use of such systems is very beneficial where fruit are not held overnight before dispatch(some local market fruit). Forced air cooling systems (pre-coolers) can be constructed quite simply in existingcoolstores using a fan and basic baffle systems with a tarpaulin.

Refrigerated air is used as the cooling medium with this system. It is forced through produce packed in boxesor pallet bins. A number of airflow systems are used, but the tunnel cooler is the most common (Fig. 1). Tworows of packages, bins, or palletized product are placed on either side of an air-return channel. A tarp isplaced over the product and the channel and a fan removes air from the channel, drawing air through theproduct.

Figure 1. Schematic of a tunnel-type forced-air cooler.

© 1998 Univ. of California Board of Reagents. In: Thompson, J.F., F.G. Mitchell, T.R. Rumsey, R.F. Casmire, and C.C.Crisosto. Commercial cooling of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Univ. Calif. Dept. Agric. Nat. Resources Pub. No. 21567.Used by permission.

This information is from USDA Agricultural Handbook 66: The Commercial Storage of Fruits, Vegetables, and Florist andNursery Stocks, 'Pre-cooling and Storage Facilities' at (http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/hb66/)

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Guideline on Temperature Management

In the field

• Harvest fruit as early as possible in the morning to take advantage of night cooling.• Get fruit into the packhouse in as short a time as possible (30 min maximum).• Fruit held in the field should be placed in the shade in a well-ventilated position.

In the packhouse and coolstore

• Pre-cool fruit within one hour of picking. • Use separate facilities to precool and store packed fruit.• Ensure containers are well ventilated and stacked in a way to achieve fast and efficient precooling.• Cool fruit overnight after packing and only dispatch fruit that has been cooled.• Use a forced air cooling system for fruit unable to be held overnight before dispatch.• Send fruit that cannot be adequately cooled before dispatch to the local market.• Measure fruit temperature on arrival (packhouse), at entry to the storage area (coolstore) and on

dispatch (NZGAP 105).

In transit

• Choose a transport operator who works under a Quality Management System.• Talk with and educate your freight providers.• Transport in solid-sided refrigerated trucks.• Ensure that transport operators are monitoring air temperature.• Ensure the refrigerator is switched on and the truck is precooled.

At the wholesaler/retailer

• Talk with and educate retailers on how fruit should be handled.• Visit and check storage and handling of fruit.• Check fruit is being rotated regularly (First In, First Out).• Date coding helps with effective stock rotation.

Share your information with your supply chain!

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Traceability and Labelling

The function of a traceability system is to be able to trace back to source any contaminated or suspectproduct. This could be microbial, chemical or physical contamination that could occur at any stage in thesupply chain.

How good a traceability system is will influence the size and scale of a product withdrawal from within thedistribution system or a full product recall from consumers and distributors.

The per unit value of a product, the size of a production operation and its complexity all influence how atraceability system is developed.

A traceability system must be able to pinpoint a package to a date, block, or batch as appropriate.The cost of implementing and maintaining such a process will have an influence on the level of detaildecided upon.

Traceability systems need to be tested on a regular basis to ensure they work properly. This involves developing a realistic scenario and then undertaking a mock recall to test the system’s effectiveness. Thisshould be done at least on an annual basis.

Minimum labelling requirements

Each punnet is labelled with product name, company name and address, identification codes, and packeddate identifier, as well as minimum net weight.

In this case the packed on date would allow traceability to pack date and possibly to a packer.

A recall or withdrawal would involve all the fruit packed on that day (and possibly unpacked fruit heldovernight).

A crate card/box label containing, crop description/variety, packed on date, weight/count, grower name,grower address, product of New Zealand, is required.

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New Zealand Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) for the Strawberry Industry

The following sections highlight the specific areas of the NZGAP manual where more detailed strawberryknowledge has now been established.

The NZGAP programme V5 (November 2009) forms the basis of the analysis.

NZGAP Section C Grower Requirements

C6 Product Safety - C6.1 Risk analysis

Management shall consider and if applicable, document the control measures relevant for the unique foodsafety hazards on the individual property or crop (76) (see Self Audit Checklist and HACCP which is availablefrom Strawberry Growers NZ Ltd.).

C6.4 Testing produce

C6.4.1 Microbial Contamination Testing

There are currently no regulations or Standards that specify critical limits for microbial levels on produce soldfor fresh consumption or for water used in the production of fresh produce (see SFF Production and QualityAssurance Annual Report 2010 which is available from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry).

C8. Equipment and Maintenance

Any equipment and machinery that comes in contact with the produce shall be clean (87) (see Cleaning andSanitising Guideline and Fact Sheet 11 which is available from Strawberry Growers NZ Ltd.).

C 10. Harvest

If it is applicable, field heat should be removed from the produce prior to being packed unless otherwisearranged (105) (see Guideline on Temperature Management which is available from Strawberry Growers NZLtd.).

C10.1 Sampling

Temperatures of the produce should be taken on arrival, at entry to the storage area and prior to dispatch(108) (see Guideline on Temperature Management which is available from Strawberry Growers NZ Ltd.).

C11.1 Quality Specifications

The required product quality specifications shall be documented and available to staff (112) (see StrawberrySpecifications Guideline which is available from Strawberry Growers NZ Ltd.).

NZGAP Section D Packhouse & Wholesale Requirements

D4. Product Safety

D4.1 Risk analysis

Management shall consider and if applicable, document the control measures relevant for the unique foodsafety hazards on the individual property or crop (76) (see Self Audit Checklist & HACCP which is availablefrom Strawberry Growers NZ Ltd.).

D4.4 Testing produce

D4.4.1 Microbial Contamination Testing

There are currently no regulations or Standards that specify critical limits for microbial levels on produce soldfor fresh consumption or for water used in the production of fresh produce (see SFF Production and QualityAssurance Annual Report 2010 which is available from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry).

D8. Quality

D8.1 Quality Specifications

The required product quality specifications shall be documented and available to staff (112) (see StrawberrySpecifications Guideline which is available from Strawberry Growers NZ Ltd.).

D9. Arrival to Delivery

D9.1 Product Arrival

If it is applicable, field heat should be removed from the produce prior to being packed unless otherwisearranged (105) (see Guideline on Temperature Management which is available from Strawberry Growers NZLtd.).

Temperatures of the produce should be taken on arrival, at entry to the storage area and prior to dispatch(108) (see Guideline on Temperature Management which is available from Strawberry Growers NZ Ltd.).

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Wholesale / Transport Guidelines

• Staff training needs to include food safety and fruit handling.

• Unload and reload direct from the coolstore and do not leave fruit in the sun or in the loading canopyareas.

• Fruit should be transported in refrigerated vehicles, preferably with solid sides for long distances.

• Monitor the dispatch and arrival temperatures of fruit.

• Ensure that the cool chain is maintained in transport and storage.

• Hold stock for projected sales only.

• Receive only labelled punnets preferrably with “picked on” or “best before” dates.

• Reject consignments of strawberries showing defects that will affect shelf life.

• It is recommended that transporters aim to accept fruit that arrives between 2°C and 6°C.

• It is recommended that wholesalers aim to accept fruit that arrives below 6°C.

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Retailer Guidelines

• Provide staff training in fruit handling.

• Hold stock at between 2°C and 6°C.

• Maintain quality system.

• Order fruit daily.

• It is recommended to reject poor quality fruit or fruit not transported in refrigerated vehicles on arrival.

• Accept only labelled punnets.

• Do not try to sell old stock that is of inferior quality.

• If fruit is being sold on non refrigerated display then keep the display as small as possible and rotate thefruit hourly.

• Maintain stock of fresh ripe strawberries to increase your sales.

• Consumers should be advised to store fruit in the refrigerator.

Strawberry Growers New Zealand Inc.www.strawbsnz.co.nz

University of California (Davis) Produce Factshttp://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/PFfruits/Strawberry/

North Carolina State Universityhttp://ncsu.edu/enterprises/strawberries

New Zealand Food Safety Authoritywww.foodsafety.govt.nz

Michigan State University Strawberry Information Centrewww.msue.msu.edu/portal/default.cfm?pageset_id=429934&page_id=430265&msue_portal_id=25643

Queensland Government Australiawww.health.qld.govt.au

Useful Website References

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STRAWBERRY GROWERS N.Z. INC11 Grenville Street, Lower Hutt. Ph 04-569 8263. Fax 04-569-8264. Email: propco@xtra.co.nz