Pre-Harvest Assessment: Elevating our field practices for a safer produce industry

Takashi Nakamura, VP Food Safety, Fresh Del Monte

To be considered a supplier to Fresh Del Monte, a grower must provide detailed food safety documents, programs, and processes that are reviewed both regionally and by corporate. 

It starts from the field and ensuring our growing operations and those that we work with, implement, continuously monitor and manage the highest levels of food safety standards. For us, it identifies our level of due diligence in managing and mitigating risks at all levels through our vertically integrated supply chain. To be considered a supplier to Fresh Del Monte, a grower must provide detailed food safety documents, programs, and processes that are reviewed both regionally and by corporate. 

We operate in over 90 countries and source fresh produce from hundreds of growers around the world. As we say due to our global footprint, the sun is always rising for our growers somewhere every day. It is a tremendous responsibility to ensure that our growers adhere to not only globally recognized standards in food safety and quality, but also to our own high corporate standards of compliance to food safety standards.

The beauty of the fresh produce industry is that we harvest from the planet in a manner that respects not only the the limited resources, but also the team members and their local communities that make it their job to ensure that we get the supply we need in a manner that is respectful and understanding of the sensitive nature of our product supply.

As a group, we conduct hundreds of audits through on-site visits supported by corporate and/or regional auditors, or enlist second parties to review food safety and quality practices on our behalf. During these audits we cover many areas including but not limited to the following; irrigation water system, pre-season risk assessment, soil amendments, field assessments, in-field sanitation program, pest control, field equipment, agricultural chemical use, worker sanitation facilities, worker health and hygiene, employee training, and food security. These audits can span several days with walkthroughs of the field, water source, surrounding areas, and review of key documents and data. 

"To be considered a supplier to Fresh Del Monte, a grower must provide detailed food safety documents, programs, and processes that are reviewed both regionally and by corporate."

While there are many areas of focus during an audit, I want to focus on several areas that include water sources, field equipment, and employee training. Water is the source of life, and no different to the variety of produce that we send to our consumers. Our overall preference is for drip irrigation, which is the safest for food safety, but also one of the most sustainable manners to not only feed our crops but also respect the scarcity of this resource.

 Frequent testing of water sources is mandated, governance processes in place for where water is stored, and very important is the evaluation of any nearby CAFOs.

CAFOs are concentrated animal feeding operations. A typical farm assessment would also review if any CAFOs are near water sources, and appropriate risk assessment done for this operation which includes any required water treatment, monitoring, and training.

Ensuring that our harvesting equipment is properly cleaned and sanitized is critical during harvesting operations. Key areas are the following; conveyor belts, inclines, transition points, hygienic design, open channel frames, stainless steel open belts, and weld points. Routine checks are critical to ensure a safe food supply from our farms.

We are about people, and consistent and regular engagement with our team members is critical to ensure that proper food safety programs are being implemented. We conduct regular on-site trainings, and train in a variety of areas; handwashing, appropriate clothing, injury procedures, security awareness, and overall health and wellness of all team members.

At Fresh Del Monte we are responsible stewards of our planet, our people and communities, and continue to ensure that our consumers have a product that is grown, harvested, and processed with the highest levels of food safety standards.