Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
What are some steps that I can take to minimize eating contaminated lettuce?
- First of all, lettuce and other fresh vegetables in the US are some of the most wholesome and safest on the planet. America's fresh fruit and vegetable supply contributes to a healthy diet. They have gotten a lot of attention lately for food safety concerns but the good of eating fresh produce far outweighs the bad.
- The key to safe produce is following proper handling guidelines. Wash all raw produce that is not labeled "ready-to-eat" before cutting, chopping, or slicing. In a clean sink, rinse produce under cold running water. Gentle rubbing with a soft brush made for use on food is ok. Don't forget to clean and sanitize the brush before and after using. After washing, antibacterial agents may be used on raw produce if they are approved for food contact and used according to directions.
- Take the same steps you would for preparing raw meat. Wash and sanitize all utensils, cutting boards, and containers used for cut produce before and after cutting, slicing, chopping, or dicing raw produce. Keep all raw meat, poultry, and fish that are not ready-to-eat separate from produce.
Millions of people enjoy the benefits of healthful and tasty salads and other foods made from fresh produce every day. Unfortunately, there is no 100% guaranteed method of eliminating the risk of food borne illness in foods that are not cooked or otherwise processed. However, by following the above steps you can provide safe and wholesome food for your customers and clients.
How does temperature affect shelf life?
Temperature affects the respiration rate of the product whether it is growing in the ground or in the refrigerator. In the ground it still has the opportunity to receive nutrients from the soil. Once harvested it only has what is available in the intact tissue. Under refrigerated temperatures the process of respiration slows which extends the availability of nutrient reserves.
Conclusion: Keep it cold. Extensive efforts are made to keep the product cold from the moment it is harvested the clock starts ticking. Temperature is the single most important factor in maintaining and maximizing produce quality. Temperature abuse is the cause of most produce claims and losses. For every 10 degree increase in temperature, a produce item can lose up to half of its life and will thus be served in a less than optimal condition
How can I keep fresh cut lettuce fresh?
- Store at 35° F; each degree higher reduces shelf life
- Maximize shelf life with proper refrigeration
- Keep time out of refrigeration to a minimum
What are some Quality Issues to Watch For?
The following are some of the quality issues that affect fresh-cut lettuce. Finding defective pieces in a bag doesn't mean the entire bag is unusable. Use your best judgment in evaluating to what degree the product is affected and eliminate objectionable pieces when necessary.
Wetness in the Bag: Ideal store temperature is 35° F. Every 10 degree increase in temperature causes the product to respire two times faster. Wetness can be linked to temperature abuse which causes the product to respire and deteriorate at a faster rate.
Pink/Brown Discoloration: A pink (and eventually brown) discoloration along the cut edges of the lettuce is generally caused by too much oxygen in the bag. The normal cause of this is the presence of a hole in the bag (no matter how small). To avoid this problem, keep the product in the original container until ready to use.
Brown Pieces: Small brown pieces are often caused by a quality defect in the raw product called tip burn. Lettuce needs to be grown in cool, mild climates. When temperatures increase above normal, the heat can burn the tips of the leaves. Most of the time this defect is inside the head and it is difficult to remove or eliminate 100% of the affected area before processing.
Off Smell: A sweet smell occurs when temperature abuse has occurred and the respiration rate has exceeded the ability of the film or tray material to maintain the proper transpire the oxygen/carbon dioxide ratio. Sometimes it may be referred to as a chemical smell or chlorine smell. Essentially you smell what respiring vegetables smell like in a plastic container. If you take the same vegetables and place them in a "Tupperware" type container and store for a day or two you will smell something similar.
Should I re-wash my fresh cut products?
All Fresh-Cut products pass through a multistage wash process, which washes all cut products with sanitizing water during three different states. This process thoroughly removes the substance from the cut cells which discolors and turns brown without using any preservatives. Along with a sterile environment, when packaged, our products are clean and ready to use. No additional washing is needed. In order to minimize cross-contamination, we highly recommend that our products be used as is.
Is my produce ready to eat or does it need to be re-washed?
If a package of fresh-cut produce says washed, tripled washed or ready-to-eat then washing is not required.For fresh cut products produced by Taylor Farms and labeled as such these products are washed and ready to eat.
What Kind of Certification Does Your Processing Plant Have?
The processing plant where your produce is made is under the jurisdiction of the FDA and operates under Good Manufacturing Practices. As such it is inspected on a regular, unannounced basis by Federal Inspectors. Our products are subjected to a multi-stage chlorinated wash system. Various foreign object screens and traps are also used to help in this process. Our plants operate under rigorous Quality Systems and HACCP-based process controls. Temperature, chlorine, and foreign object collection points are monitored every half-hour to one hour. Furthermore as part of our quality and food safety systems program our facilities are audited by a number of 3rd party agencies. Depending on a particular plant location inspection agencies may include but not be limited to AIB, Silliker Laboratories, Food SafetyNet Services, Military VetCom inspections, or Primus Labs.
Where Do Your Vegetables Come From?
It is important to note that our raw ingredients are sourced from farms we know and trust. Taylor Farms uses only farmers and suppliers that we have a relationship with. Many of these farmers are local. In fact the majority of our produce supply is local sourced. Food Safety and Quality are the most important pre-requisites. For California supply, we are participatory handlers in the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement which requires mandatory USDA inspections of our farmers. Finally, as part of our traceability and freshness program we date-code our produce so you always know when it's fresh.
Do you use preservatives?
The key to maintaining good shelf-life of our products includes the raw materials condition, cleaning of the product, temperature control, and packaging methods. No preservatives, such as sulphites, are used on our fresh cut vegetable products.
What is minimally processed?
"Minimally processed" horticultural products are prepared and handled to maintain their fresh nature while providing convenience to the user. Producing minimally processed products involves cleaning, washing, trimming, coring, slicing, shredding, and so on.
How are your products washed?
Our multi-stage wash at 33 to 37° F is utilized to cool the product and reduce the incoming microbiological level. The movement of water through the wash flumes in combination with the agitation of the water jets helps to remove any foreign objects such as insects or excess dirt from the field. The use of sanitizing water is a standard approach to washing our product because of its consistent effectiveness. Wash water sanitizing levels are monitored throughout the process.
How do you clean the plant?
Principally good sanitation and temperature management controls microbial growth on minimally processed products. Sanitation of all equipment occurs daily. At the end of the day, the entire processing plant is washed down in a multi-stepped rinse, wash, rinse, and sanitize process. Cleaning is verified through the use of on the spot Adenene Tri-Phosphate Bioluminescent analysis (ATP). Other environmental swabbing is conducted several times per week to assist in monitoring the effectiveness of cleaning. Both in-house tests and outside laboratory testing is conducted.
What are some Quality assurance checks that you perform?
Samples are collected throughout the day and a range of quality assurance checks are performed. They include but are not limited to cut size, blend proportions, bag weights, leaks, bag dimensions, microbiological monitoring, etc. Additionally, shelf life samples are collected throughout the production run and monitored over the course of the established shelf life. This information is recorded and trend analysis is conducted.
Do you have a testing program?
Testing plays a critical role in our food safety program. We have one of the most comprehensive produce testing policy in the world. As part of our ongoing process and product performance monitoring we have a number of different testing regimes in place. These tests focus on the process environment including wash system, the raw ingredients, and the finished product. There is no "kill" step or true firewall but the process as described in the preceding pages represents a series of hurdles to prevent contamination and cross contamination. A comprehensive testing program plays a critical role in evaluating effectiveness of the intervention steps. The following areas are addressed in our testing program:
- Environmental monitoring to identify potential pathogen harborage sites. This includes Listeria and Salmonella.
- Testing to verify effective controls & trends: in process and finished product testing. This includes Aerobic Plate Count and E. Coli.
- In-field product sampling. This includes Salmonella and E. Coli.
These testing programs on based directly on guidance from ICMSF and FDA. They have been developed with input from Universities and recognized 3rd party experts.
Do you have a food safety program in the field?
As part of Taylor Farms' continuous improvement of our quality and food safety programs, we require all of our contract suppliers of comply with established industry Good Harvesting Practices (GHP) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). Some examples of steps that are taken in the field include the use of a sanitizing spray on the cut surfaces of the lettuce, gloves and hairnets for all of the harvesting crews and periodic testing of the water used for irrigation. The program is verified through the use of both independent third party auditors and our own internal field auditing program.
How can you guarantee that the raw product is safe?
By controlling growing practices we are able to significantly reduce the risk of contaminated raw material. Practices such as our Industry leading GAP program, the extension of GMP principles to fields workers and equipment used for value added harvesting, the ability to leverage a common grower base for both source and regional processing and finally the continuous rebuilding of our programs based on a review of how effective they are as well as with new information brought forward by FDA and other public health professionals based on their review of food borne illness outbreaks. In short our program is driven by the best science available at any given time.
Why does lettuce turn pink?
Lettuce turns pink due to oxidation which occurs when there is too much oxygen in the bag. It is not a food safety issue but more of a quality/appearance issue. Once the product is cut, it naturally begins to degrade so it is imperative that it goes into a bag where the atmosphere is controlled, i.e. allowing the correct amount of oxygen to enter and carbon dioxide to exit. Taylor Farm's R&D department has conducted numerous studies on modified atmosphere packaging in order to achieve maximum shelf life of the products.
Is your product GMO free?
At this time our growers do not use Genetically Modified Organisms nor are they actively seeking them. Where required we receive a signed GMO declaration from our suppliers as part of their approval process.
Do you irradiate your product?
No. This is not a common practice for produce items or fresh cut at this time. It has been approved but there is much work to be done both technically and from a consumer acceptance standpoint.