Food Protection Trends - January/February 2022 - 25

Figure 9. Pulse cleaning facility.
Figure 10. Tote packing of pulses.
Photo courtesy of USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council.
Photo courtesy of USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council.
Figure 11. Split dry field peas.
Figure 12. Field peas inspection.
Photo courtesy of USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council.
Photo courtesy of USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council.
cleaning, dry pulses are typically packed into food-grade bulk
nylon totes (Fig. 10) or 50# or 100# polypropylene-lined paper
or burlap bags that are intended for industrial (food processor)
customers. Some facilities also may package product into
smaller food service-size or retail-size packaging. Dry pulses
can be stored for many years under proper conditions of
temperature, humidity, and pest control.
There are few significant biological, chemical, and physical
hazards in the agronomy, storage, and cleaning of chickpeas,
lentils, and dry peas. Potential chemical hazards may involve
mycotoxins, pesticide residues, lectins, and antinutritional
factors. Some individuals have food allergies to pulse proteins
(8). The FDA specifies some spore-forming and vegetative
pathogens as potential biological hazards in raw dried chickpeas
and lentils. Physical hazards may include pests, metal,
and other foreign materials. Farms, storages, and cleaning
facilities using best practices leverage food safety prerequisite
programs, critical control points, and preventive controls to
minimize or eliminate these hazards.
Agronomy and postharvest operations for the three pulses
under discussion are regulated through several FSMA
regulations. Although chickpeas and lentils are exempt
from the FDA's Standards for the Growing, Harvesting,
Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption
( " Produce Safety " ) rule, dry field peas were not exempted
until 2019 when the FDA indicated they would suspend
compliance requirements through " enforcement discretion "
(32). Farms fitting within the primary production and
secondary activities farms' definitions are exempt from
FDA registration requirements. The human and animal food
preventive control rules contain exemptions for these farms,
along with enforcement discretion for secondary farms that
pack and hold pulses. Facilities such as storages and cleaning
operations that are not farms must not only register with
FDA but also comply with requirements within one or both
of the two preventive control rules.
PULSE AGRONOMY
In the United States, pulses are cool-season crops grown
primarily in the Northern Plains (Montana, North Dakota,
and South Dakota) and the Palouse (Idaho, Washington, and
Oregon) regions. They are planted in rotation with cereals,
creating higher cereal yields by disrupting pests and conserving
soil moisture (2). As legumes, pulses produce their own
nitrogen by symbiotic growth with a soil bacterium. The most
serious disease for chickpeas is Ascochyta blight, which can be
treated with systemic fungicides (10).
Pulse crops must dry on the vine before harvest by a single
pass of a combine; 12% moisture is the optimum level for
harvest to prevent spoilage and mold problems. According to
January/February Food Protection Trends
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Food Protection Trends - January/February 2022

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