Produce and Food Safety - Purdue Student Farm

Produce and Food Safety

   

Produce grown at the Student Farm


With the help of student workers, the Purdue Student Farm is able to produce a multitude of different vegetables and herbs. Some of these include .....

Vegetables

Kale, cabbage, beets, lettuce, salad greens mix (baby kale, arugula, mizuna, mustard greens), early beans, turnip, cherry tomato, heirloom tomato, red slicer tomato, colored sweet peppers (bell, frying, and roasting), hot peppers (chili, jalapeno, poblano, and variety of extremely hot peppers), eggplant (Asian and Italian types), summer squash, winter squash, gourds, cantaloupe, watermelon, onion, leek, scallion, celery, celeriac, and popcorn.

Herbs

Basil, thyme, lemon balm, oregano, lavender, parsley, and mint.

 

Is our food organic?

The food that we grow is not certified organic. However, we make every attempt to implement growing practices on the farm that follow the rules outlined in the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service National Organic Program. We also endeavor to only use products that are appropriate for organic operations and that are listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) Toward this end we take a holistic agro-ecosystem approach to food production, focusing on plant and insect diversity and building healthy soil.

 

Food Safety at the Purdue Student Farm

Food safety is important for any size farm and is something that is integral to operations at the Purdue Student Farm.  The farm manager, Chris Adair, has completed the Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training and is knowledgeable in Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs).  Following GAPs on the farm reduces the risk of contamination from growing, harvesting, packing, holding, and transporting fresh fruits and vegetables.  Workers are trained on how to safely pick produce, as well as how to wash it using a postharvest sanitizer.  A robust hand-washing policy is in place where workers know to wash their hands when changing activities on the farm.

The Purdue Student Farm has a new wash/pack room that was specifically designed with food safety in mind.  This includes how fresh produce flows through the wash/pack room where dirty produce never comes into contact with produce that has been washed and is ready to be delivered to the consumer.  All harvest bins, totes, harvest tools, and washing areas are made of materials (hard plastic/stainless steel) that are cleanable and sanitizable and this is done daily when in use.  The Purdue Student Farm is inspected annually by the Radiological and Environmental Management group at Purdue which is also responsible for the inspection of all food service establishments on campus.

The Produce Safety Alliance is a great resource for more information about food safety.

Display of vegetables at market