The USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service will collect survey results from produce packers and others to help fruit and vegetable operations preparing to meet new federal food safety requirements.
The 2015 Produce Post-Harvest Microbial Food Safety Practices Survey marks the first time since 1998 that such a survey has been conducted.
NASS Administrator Joseph T. Reilly encouraged operators to participate in the survey, noting that implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act might affect post-harvest businesses.
FSMA was signed into law in 2011. And aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it.
NASS will contact approximately 2,200 post-harvest businesses across the United States.There will be two other related surveys that focus on produce growers.
Both the 2015 Fruit Chemical Use and 2016 Vegetable Chemical Use Surveys will also contain sections on microbial food safety and these will be sent to 10,900 producers in total.
