Food Protection Trends - November/December 2021 - 538

TABLE 2. Participants' attitudes toward food safety and their self-reported comfort level
for attending in-person events
Statement
Attitude toward food safety (strongly disagree = 1, strongly agree = 5)
Getting information from reputable sources is important to you.
Being knowledgeable in food safety is important to you.
Food safety on your farm is a top priority for you.
Outside inspections or third-party audits are an important aspect of food safety.
Self-reported comfort level (extremely uncomfortable = 1, extremely comfortable = 5)
Having one-on-one mentoring session
Meeting with smaller groups of veteran farmers
Meeting with smaller groups of nonveteran farmers
Attending events with large crowds
Note: Superscript a, b, c,
significant level of 0.05.
and d
Survey (mean score ± SD)
n = 77
4.79 ± 0.52a
4.39 ± 0.81b
4.13 ± 0.94c
3.75 ± 0.91d
n = 75
4.28 ± 0.94a
4.23 ± 0.97a
3.72 ± 1.12b
3.11 ± 1.25c
indicate that the difference between the mean scores on the statements is statistically significant at the
and that food safety was a top priority on their farm (M =
4.13, SD = 0.94). This finding aligns with a study conducted
among small- and medium-scale produce growers. Most
participants of the study perceived that food safety was
important to their farms, as well as to their customers (28).
Veteran farmers were slightly agreed that outside
inspections or third-party audits were important to maintain
food safety (M = 3.75, SD = 0.91). Previous studies indicated
that most farmers did not trust third-party auditors to
keep food safe (28) and only a small number had received
third-party audits (3, 23). Many buyers, such as retailers and
processors, require third-party audits, which increase the
costs and workloads of the farmers to meet all audit criteria
(4). Most veteran farmers in the United States are very
small-scale farmers (41) who are already struggling to make
a profit. They sell most of their products through direct-toconsumer
channels, such as farmers' markets and roadside
stands that do not require third-party audits (19). Thus, they
are less likely to use and consider using third-party audits (3).
Most veteran farmers with farming experiences did not
perceive food safety as a problem on their farms (81%,
data not presented in the tables). Farmers believed that
contamination mostly occurred at consumers' homes
instead of on the farm (14). However, many sources can
contribute to the contamination of agricultural commodities,
including humans, soil, water, animals, and equipment and
tools. Contamination can happen on the farm at any time:
from growing to harvesting, packaging, and transportation.
Many foodborne illness outbreaks have been linked to raw
agricultural commodities traced back to farms. For example,
538 Food Protection Trends November/December
a romaine lettuce Escherichia coli outbreak was traced to
agricultural water contamination on a farm (7). More
education can help to raise veteran farmers' food safety
risk perceptions.
Self-reported food safety practices
Most veteran farmers who grew fruits and vegetables failed to
follow the recommended on-farm food safety practices (Table 3).
The microbial quality of agricultural water is a critical component
in ensuring produce safety because it can potentially carry
pathogens and contaminate produce throughout production
to postharvest handling (43). In the present study, only 24% of
participants self-reported that they would collect water samples
for safety testing such as a microbial test. Among those who did
not test water samples, 46% reported that they did not know
how to do so, whereas 30% perceived it was not necessary. Two
possible reasons for this result were (i) the produce farms of
most participants were exempted from the FSMA PSR, so they
were less likely to be aware of the importance of water testing
and might lack such knowledge, and (ii) very small-scale farmers
tend to rely on natural rainwater during production (3) and
commonly use municipal water on their farms (32), so water
testing is not necessary for them. When asked whether they
would take actions when their field was contaminated with dirty
water, 94% of participants answered " no, " with 61% indicating
that they did not know how to take actions and 33% perceiving
that it was not necessary. The common action reported by
the participants that would take action (6%) was contacting
authorized agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency for instructions on the next step.

Food Protection Trends - November/December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - November/December 2021