Helpful Resources

These documents provide more insight and interpretation into USDA's thinking about each question in the GAP audit.

Three-fold GAP awareness brochure from the Penn State GAP program

General Guidance for Growers FDA

UC-Davis Commodity Specific Guidance

North Carolina State University

A Community Food Security Coalition Report

North Carolina State University

2009 updates for tomatoes, leafy greens, and tomatoes

Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA)

PMA, UFFVA. April 25, 2006.

Seven major retailers have come to a common acceptance of four GFSI benchmarked food safety schemes

(2011 release), contains commonly agreed criteria for food safety standards, against which any food or farm assurance standard can be benchmarked.

( SQF).The SQF Institute, a division of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), was established to administer the SQF Program, a global food safety and quality certification and management system.

This code is a HACCP-based, GFSI recognized, supplier assurance code designed to meet the needs of primary producers, including those involved in fresh produce.

A private sector body that sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe.

CanadaGAP (Good Agricultural Practices) is the name of the Canadian Horticultural Council's (CHC) On-Farm Food Safety (OFFS) Program and consists of national food safety standards and a certification system for the safe production, storage and packing of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Not currently benchmarked to GFSI or GlobalGap, but is widely used by U.S. agricultural producers to verify safe growing practices.

United Fresh Produce Association

Commodity Specific Guidelines for Production, Harvest and Post Harvest Handling. 2013

1998 FDA

FDA

EPA Office of Water

EPA

Penn State University

Link from the Penn State Extension Water Testing Program

To submit a drinking water sample to Penn State’s laboratory, obtain a Drinking Water Test Kit from your county cooperative extension office or directly from the laboratory. Send your water sample by overnight mail along with $35.00 payment

Penn State Extension

Approved water testing laboratories (Scroll down for link to Excel spreadsheet)

Penn State University Extension

PSU School of Forest Resources fact sheet

PA DEP Microorganisms

Extoxnet

Irrigation page

Penn State University

Note: regulations on the use of chlorine in water in U.S. and Canada may differ.

Penn State Extension

Penn State EXtension

UW-Extension. Tips for keeping deer out of fields Manure and/or Biosolids Management

Basic information for Pennsylvania landowners regarding their rights to control nuisance wildlife

A Summary by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, of programs in Pennsylvania that farmers may use to protect crops and properties

Edited by Al Dufour, Jamie Bartram, Robert Bos and Victor Gannon Publication date: 2012. Free download.

References for scientific studies on pathogen survival. Supplemental material for the document: Harris, L.J., E. Berry, T. Blessington, M. Erickson, M. Jay-Russell, X. Jiang, K. Killinger, F.C. Michel, P. Millner, M. Sharma, T.V. Suslow, L. Wang, R.W. Worobo. 2012. A framework for developing research protocols for evaluation of microbial hazards and controls during production that pertain to the use of untreated biological soil amendments of animal origin for produce that may be consumed raw.

California Code of Regulations

Animal Waste Management

Technical and regulatory information. EPA

National Agriculture Compliance Assistance Center. EPA

Title 25 § 83.201

Title 14, Division 7, Chapter 3.1. Article 5. California Integrated Waste Management Board.

Pennsylvania Certified Organic

Epstein E. 1996. CRC Press. Google Books preview Worker Health and Hygiene

University of Wisconsin Extension

University of Wisconsin Extension

Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection

North Carolina State University Extension

FDA October 2011

Helps keep the crop off the ground while harvesting

Produce storage fact sheets

University of California , Davis Postharvest Technology Research and Information Center

LSU University

The Healthy Profits, Healthy Farmers Project’

A series of Tip Sheets on labor efficiency for small-scale fresh market vegetable growers, UW Cooperative Extension.

Facilities Considerations

University of California - Davis

Postharvest Technologies for Horticultural Crops, 2009, Vol. 2: 1-24

UC-Davis

University of California - Davis

Iowa State University

UC-Davis Extension

Penn State Cooperative Extension

Occupational Health and Safety Administration, U.S. Dept. of Labor

University of Hawaii at Manoa GAP Coaching Program

PMA, CPMA, United Fresh Produce

Trevor Suslow, Ph.D. University of California - Davis

A form developed by FDA for use in the domestic survey follow-ups and outbreak tracebacks.

This paper examines an economic efficient method of formulating and implementing traceability regulations in the fruit and vegetable industry. Choices 21(4). American Agricultural Economics Association. April 2006.

Country of origin labeling (COOL) requires labeling for muscle cuts and ground beef, veal, lamb, pork, goat, chicken, farm-raised and wild fish, shellfish, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and ginseng that states the country of origin. This mandatory measure was implemented March 16, 2009, by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service

Agricultural Economic Report No. (AER799) 45 pp, April 2001. This report examines how product liability law treats personal injuries attributed to microbially contaminated foods.

Portable, durable flip chart for training harvesters and handlers on personal hygiene and practices that contribute to produce contamination. Printed on 11X 17 cardstock with laminated cover in English and Spanish. Also available in Creole. Contact lfl5@psu.edu for pricing and availability.

Good Agricultural Practices Network for Training and Education. Cornell University.

Posters, Booklets, Brochures, CDs, and other educational material available.

Resources and materials on on GAPs including traceability, postharvest, and quality.

Fact sheets and presentations for primarily southeast U.S. crops.

Focuses on farm food safety training for countries that export to the U.S.

Commodity specific guidelines and training materials for mushroom growers. 2008

University of Hawaii. Fact sheets, food safety plan strategies and guidance, other information resources.

USDA Food and Nutrition Service - Food safety resources organized by topic area that provides basic definitions of food safety terms and links to sites with more information.

Danbury News Times and University of Connecticut Extension.

UC-Davis Department of Vegetable Crops