Food Safety
Certificate
Bamboo Creek Farms
Global Grower Network
Class Objective: Upon conclusion of The Food Safety Certificate Workshop
participants will understand the need for food safety protocol and the steps to
implement their site-specific food safety plan.
A Project of:
Produced by:
In Conjunction With:
!
Food Safety
People can get sick from dirty food
What sickness:
 E Coli
 Listeria
 Salmonella
 Giardia
Most Common Vegetables that Cause Sickness
 Leafy greens
 Nuts
 Tomatoes
 Vines plants where food touches the dirt (cucumber)
How they get sick?
 Bad Personal Hygiene, (people are not clean)
 Dirty Water
 From Animals or Animal Waste
Why
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Plants have small holes or pores that absorb bacteria
The bacterial will stay in the pores even after you wash it
A contaminated plant must be thrown away
If one person gets sick it could stop our program!
Bad Personal Hygiene- dirty people
(the most common reason people get sick from food)
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Do not touch food or harvest vegetables when you are sick
Where clean cloths when you harvest or touch food.
o Change cloths if coming from the chicken factory
o Change cloths after caring for a baby
Where rubber glover if you have a cut on your hand
Do not take care of babies while you harvest or touch food
Wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and use paper towel to dry
1. Before you start to harvest
2. After you sneeze
3. After you talk on the phone
4. After you touch your face
5. After you touch a child
*Now everyone will go outside a practice proper hand washing.
Things to do before you start farming
1.Test the Soil
Pass Around Soil Sample Handout
2. Test the Irrigation Water and the Wash Station Water
Pass Out Instruction for a Water Quality Test
~River or lake water cannot be used in spray irrigation
~City water does not need to be tested
3. Plan to keep animal and animal waste away from the plants and water
source
A farm map will be drawn on the board. Students will be asked to change
the layout of the farm in order to keep animals and animal waste away
from the vegetable plants
4. Know the rules for using Animal Manure
Wait 90 days after applying raw manure to soil
Wait 120 days for vegetables that touch the soil
Look outside and consider the open left field. If we turned this into goat
pasture, letting the goats drink from the river, could we pull water from
the river for field irrigation? Consider which way the river flows.
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The Harvest Process: (The way we harvest, every time)
A good harvest procedure can eliminate the possibility of food contamination
Global Growers cannot help you sell your food unless this process is followed!
1. Wash your hands
 20 Seconds
 Use soap
 Use paper Towel
2. Clean all tools and equipment:
 Harvest Knife
 Harvest Buckets
 Wash Sinks
 Drying Screens
 Storage Bins
o Rinse with Clean Water
o Wash with Soap and a Scrub Sponge
o Rinse with clean water
o Sanitize with a Bleach Solution (1 spoon bleach to 1 gallon water)
o Let Air dry
3. Wash your hands
 20 Seconds
 Use soap
 Use paper Towel
4. Harvest
 Using a clean harvest knife
 Into a clean harvest bin
 Do not let vegetables sit in the sun
5. Take vegetables to the wash station
6. Clean the sink
 Use Soap and a clean scrub brush
7. Wash hands
 20 Seconds
 Use soap
 Use paper Towel
8. Cool and wash vegetables in cold clean water
 Rinse in first bin of cold clean water
 Transfer to next bin
 Rinse again in cold clean water
9. Dry vegetables on clean drying rack
10: Weigh vegetable on clean scale
11: Bag vegetables in clean bags
10. Store vegetables in clean storage bin
11. Put bin of vegetables in a cool clean place
Global Growers cannot help you sell your food unless this process is followed!
Family and Friends who help you harvest must also follow this process.
Clean Food
Date:
Name:
Wash Hands
Wash Harvest Knife
Wash Harvest Buckets
Wash Storage Bins
Wash Drying Rack
Wash Hands
Harvest
Wash Food in Cold Water
Dry Food
Weigh Food on Clean Scale
Put food in clean bags
Put Food in Storage Bin
Put Storage Bin in Cool Place
Food Safety Inspection
 Twice a month a Global Growers Staff member will watch you wash your
vegetables.
 They will write up a document that says what you are doing right and
wrong.
 At the end of each month you will receive a Food Safety Report
Not Following Food Safety Procedure?
 1st time: You will get a warning and a verbal explanation about how to do it
correctly.
 2nd time: You will have to meet with a staff member to retake that Food
Safety class.
 3rd time: Global Growers will stop selling your food for 2 weeks.
 4th time: You can no longer sell to Global Growers
Friends and Family Member
 If friends or family member want to help you harvest food that is going to
be sold then they must take the Food Safety Class.
 They can harvest and wash food with out the Food Safety certification if the
food is not going to be sold.
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Packaging and Storing
Everyone look at your contract for Spring CSA
What size units are you asked to deliver to Karen?
Spring Vegetables should be stored in a refrigerator in a food storage bin
Tomatoes, potatoes, onions and garlic should be stored on a clean tray.
See Intake Form.
Lets Practice the Harvest Procedure!
We will now go outside.
 Discuss the plan for the new wash station.
 Review Food Safety Procedure check off Sheet
 Check for needed supplies
 Harvest and wash vegetables following the new procedure.
Note: once a week the wash station will be cleaned and restocked.
Back inside:
Are their any suggestion or comments about the Bamboo Creek Harvest
Procedure?
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Can you agree to follow this procedure?
___________Yes__________No__________________________________________________________________
Cooling your vegetables keeps them fresher.
On very hot days it is good to harvest into a bucket of
cold water.
Everyone is expected
to cool their vegetables by washing them in
cold clean water quickly after harvest.
Store your vegetables in a refrigerator.
Good Practices
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Harvest in the morning, before the vegetables fill with
the summer heat.
Harvest into a bucket of cold water
Water your plants the day before harvest so they are
hydrated.
Only harvest right before market
Handle vegetables very carefully
Always keep your harvest basket out of the sun.
Put your vegetables in the coldest place you can find (cold dark room)
Do not pile vegetables high in the basket. Tomatoes will bust open, 2 deep max
Do not put tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions or garlic in the refrigerator.
Keep the Food Clean!
The Selling Process:
Wash hands before touching vegetables or wear new clean gloves.
Do not touch money and then touch vegetables.
Do not let your vegetables sit in the sun.
Clean your scale before using it.
Have clean bags to package vegetables.
Keep vegetables cool at market by spraying cold water
Keep basil leaves in a vase of cold water
Do not use dirty bags.
Where to buy bags?
State Farmers Market in Atlanta
~Mathews Hamper House
Avisbag.com—rolls of produce bags
Eggcartons.com
Producepackaging.com-- clamshells
Biobagusa.com—compostable bags
We will now complete the Post Test.
Food Safety
Bamboo Creek Farm
Vocabulary Lesson Work Sheet
To Harvest:
Take the food off the plant
Post Harvest Handling:
What you do with the food after it is off the plant
Harvest Procedure:
Harvest= What you do with your food after you harvest it.
Procedure= What you do every time in the same order.
Personal Hygiene:
Keeping your body clean, especially your hands
Raw Manure:
Animal wastes that is fresh, has not been sitting for 120 days
Sanitize:
To kill microorganism and pathogens on an object
Food Safety Risk:
An activity that could cause the food to get dirty and make someone
sick
Program Evaluation:
Before and after the lesson, participants will be asked four evaluation questions. All
questions will invoke a Yes or No response. These questions will be asked verbally.
Students will use the answer sheet below to circle Yes or No for each question. Students
will be reminded not to answer verbally, as this can influence the answer of those sitting
around them.
Before Class
1: Can people get sick from eating food that was touched by someone with dirty hands?
Yes
NO
2: Should you clean the harvest bin before you use it?
Yes
3: Should you harvest food if you feel sick?
Yes
No
No
4:Do you need clean plastic bags when you sell to customers?
Yes
No
After Class
1: Can people get sick from eating food that was touched by someone with dirty hands?
Yes
NO
2: Should you clean the harvest bin before you use it?
Yes
3: Should you harvest food if you feel sick?
Yes
No
No
4: Do you need clean plastic bags when you sell to customers?
Yes
No