FRESH fruits and vegetables are important to the health and well being of all of us. In America, we enjoy one of the safest supplies of fresh produce and fruits in the world.
Nevertheless, we continue to have outbreaks of illnesses and even deaths due to food contamination. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office said that about 76 million people contract a foodborne illness in the United States each year. Of them, some 325,000 require hospitalization and 5,000 die.
Health experts estimate that the annual cost of this is nearly six billion dollars in direct medical expenses and lost productivity.
Managing food safety is no easy task, especially when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables. For one thing, unlike raw meat, fish, and poultry that are cooked, which helps kill germs, fresh produce and fruits are eaten “as is.” So, proper minimal human handling is important to reduce the potential for contamination before reaching consumers.
Secondly, there is neither uniform standards, nor rigorous oversight. Much of the food safety rules involve self-policing, based on voluntary guidelines, by food producers, manufacturers, distributors, and transporters.
There are good rules regarding food worker health and hygiene. Obviously, “infected” employees who work with fresh vegetables and fruits increase the risk of transmitting foodborne illnesses. But are these rules enforced? To what measure?
There are guidelines for proper food transport as well. Among these: use clean pallets, containers, or bins; inspect transportation vehicles for cleanliness, odors, obvious dirt, and debris before loading; load trucks to minimize physical damage; maintain proper transport temperatures; and so forth. Here again, are these things done, and to what extent?
Often in the produce industry, truckers and lumpers have to manually re-stack boxes of fruits and produce from one pallet to another. Are these exchange pallets being “properly” maintained? What about the cleanliness issues associated with pallet exchanges, another common industry practice.
I wouldn't think there would have to be regulations on good hygienic practices and sanitary conditions in the produce industry. Maintaining cleanliness ought to be a given.
Poor personal cleanliness and unsanitary practices greatly increases the potential for contaminating fresh produce and fruits which, if consumed by the public, may cause a large number of illnesses. The potential is greater for truckers, as they work in an environment where their hands often come in contact with potentially harmful substances, such as diesel fuel and grease.
Sadly, not all truckers take personal hygiene seriously enough.
Nor do many distribution centers, shippers, receivers, refrigerated warehouses, etc. They have driver areas and restrooms that are far from clean and germ-free. I've seen filthy bathrooms that have no towels, soap or hot water, with trash cans that have never been cleaned, much less emptied regularly.
Why haven't trucking companies established training programs on good hygienic practices for its truckers involved in handling fruits and vegetables?
I don't know of any trucking company that even covers the basics of this, such as proper hand-washing techniques, one of the most important procedures for preventing the spread of contamination.
Do your drivers thoroughly wash their hands before starting to work with produce and fruit, especially after using the toilet, after coughing or sneezing, or after engaging in any activity that may contaminate hands, such as polishing wheels or empting garbage from their cabs? Too few do.
Do your drivers know about such other basic hygiene practices around fruits and produce, such as the importance of using toilet facilities? Do they understand when gloves should be worn, what type to use, and proper use so as not to become a vehicle for spreading pathogens? Do they know they need to have protection on any cuts or lesions on parts of the body that may make contact with fresh produce and fruits?
If truckers don't understand and follow basic food protection principles, they may unintentionally contaminate fresh fruits and produce.
Creating food safety education and training programs designed to help them understand what is expected of them, and why it is expected, is immensely important. This will help to minimize the potential for contamination and deliver safer foods to the consumer. Everyone benefits from that.
Need more of a motivator? The US Food and Drug Administration is looking at the entire food chain, with the intention of developing regulations and requirements to further ensure food safety. We all know what can happen when government gets involved.
I welcome your thoughts and comments.