Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain. Second Edition

摘要

The North American Tomato Trade Work Group (NATTWG) published in 2006 the first edition of Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain. In the two years since that document, several initiatives have resulted in significant new learnings about potential risks and control measures at all points in the fresh tomato supply chain. Some of those initiatives include the FDA Tomato Safety Initiative, voluntary efforts by the Florida Tomato Exchange and the California Tomato Farmers to develop USDA-verified audit criteria and programs for tomato production and harvest practices in those states, and several retail and foodservice buyer initiatives to further define tomato safe growing and handling practices. Members of NATTWG and United Fresh Produce Association initiated this second edition to capture those learnings and to include the perspectives of a wider scope of contributors. Significant efforts were made to involve as many associations, agencies, companies and individuals with expertise in food safety practices for one or more steps in the fresh tomato supply chain as possible. All perspectives were considered. Under the leadership of the editors identified in the acknowledgments, over forty contributors collaborated to develop the guidelines presented in this edition. The guidelines presented in this edition represent a current understanding of conditions and controls that should be considered by every company in the tomato supply chain for their respective operations. In some cases, a company may need to consider the guidelines in more than one module. For example, companies involved in Field Packing should also consider the recommendations in the Open Field Production module, and companies involved in Repacking should also consider the recommendations in the Packinghouse module.