Industry updates its good agricultural practices book

By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press

Updated industry guidelines aim to help California almond producers maintain cleanliness during harvests and delivery.

The Almond Board of California's new Good Agricultural Practices manual includes instructions on eliminating molds and other contaminants from developing en route to the processing plant.

For instance, bacteria such as salmonella can get onto almonds if equipment or vehicles used to carry them have not been cleaned and inspected before they're used, a quick-start guide to the GAP manual explains.

Growers should also keep an eye on the moisture levels of in-shell nuts, remembering that high humidity measures in the stockpile could promote mold, said Kelly Covello, the almond board's manager of industry relations.

"We just felt it's basically due diligence" to update the standards, Covello said. "The program was developed in 2005, so it's been five years. We do a lot of research. ... Particularly the stockpiling research is relatively new. It's time to basically take the research we've been doing and put it into our guidelines."

In addition to handling harvests, the GAP manual also includes sections on documentation and traceability, employee training, fertilizer and soil amendment, water quality, orchard floor management, field sanitation and worker hygiene, and pest control.

The almond board is working on a pathogen environmental monitoring program, which it hopes to introduce within the next couple of months, Covello said.

"The thing with food safety is it's an ongoing process," she said. "You're never done. We're always striving to do things better."

The manual is based on federal and state food safety guidelines. While it is not itself a legal requirement, handlers could require providers to follow the guidelines, and a grower could be held liable for not following the guidelines if a foodborne illness outbreak is traced back to his or her orchard, Covello said.

Online

California Almond Board: www.almondboard.com

To obtain the manual or the quick-start guide, producers may contact the almond board at 209-549-8262, e-mail staff@almondboard.com or visit www.almondboard.com