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Food Safety for Fruit
and Vegetable Farms

Horticulture & Landscape Architecture > Food Safety for Fruit and Vegetable Farms > Storage and Transport

Storage and Transport

During storage and transport it is important to prevent contamination of produce and manage temperature and humidity to maintain produce quality and minimize pathogen growth.

To prevent contamination:

Clean and sanitize storage areas and transport vehicles regularly
Keep produce containers off the floor, on pallets or shelves
Separate hazardous chemicals from produce
Keep pests out: monitor for pests and control if necessary

To maintain produce quality:

Set temperature in storage at recommended levels for the product
Keep relative humidity at recommended levels for the product
Monitor temperature and relative humidity
Control temperature during transport

The resources below provide more information about storing and transporting produce. Use the information to learn about the risks, assess an operation, and identify changes that will reduce risk.

Resources

	Title	Link	Institution or Agency
: : ‎(4)
	Food Safety Begins on the Farm A Grower Self Assessment of Food Safety Risks	Link	Cornell University
	Kansas State Food-A-Syst: A Food Safety Risk Management Guide for the Producer	Link	Kansas State University
	Farm Food Safety Decision Tree Project	Link	Cornell
	Food Safety Regulations for Farmers’ Markets	pdf	Purdue University
: : Equipment ‎(1)
	Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits project at Univ. of Wisconsin	http://bse.wisc.edu/hfhp/index4.htm	University of Wisconsin-Madison
: : Facility Design ‎(2)
	Packing Shed Layout	http://bse.wisc.edu/hfhp/tipsheets_pdf/shed4web.pdf	University of Wisconsin-Madison
	Streamlining Your Sales Area	http://bse.wisc.edu/hfhp/tipsheets_pdf/sales4web.pdf	University of Wisconsin-Madison
: : Home Storage and Handling ‎(1)
	Safe Handling of Raw Produce and Fresh-Squeezed Fruit and Vegetable Juices	www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm114299.htm	FDA
: : Pathogens ‎(1)
	Listeria monocytogenes in Produce Packing Houses	Link	Indiana State Dept. of Health
: : Postharvest General ‎(2)
	Postharvest Handling and Storage page at Purdue Fruit and Vegetable Connection	https://ag.purdue.edu/hla/fruitveg/Pages/harvest.aspx	Purdue University
	Postharvest resources from Univ. of Florida	http://postharvest.ifas.ufl.edu/	University of Florida
: : Sanitation ‎(1)
	Basic Elements of Equipment Cleaning and Sanitizing in Food Processing and Handling Operations, FS14	Basic Elements of Equipment Cleaning and Sanitizing in Food Processing and Handling Operations	Univ. of Florida
: : Std. Operating Procedures ‎(1)
	Calibrating a Thermometer	pdf	Indiana State Dept. of Health

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