19 min
Important Food Safety Information with Jennifer Pulcipher, Director of Food Safety and Compliance at North Bay Produce The Produce Moms Podcast
-
- Health & Fitness
“Food safety is the paramount goal for everyone in agriculture.”
Lori Taylor (16:42)
Jennifer Pulcipher is the Director of Food Safety and Compliance at North Bay Produce. With a degree in Food Safety from Michigan State University, and nearly a decade of experience in the field, she is an expert when it comes to keeping your food safe from the field to the fork. She oversees all programs related to safety and security of the supply chain to secure the integrity of food we buy in our local grocery stores.
North Bay produce is a grower owned cooperative with farms located throughout North and South America, and are also a big importer and exporter, supplying consumers in the United States with safely grown berries, apples, beans, peas, and dried fruit.
Whether the produce is grown practically in your backyard, or exported from around the world, the strictest standards are implemented to keep your food safe!
All of their suppliers are third party audited to the Global Food Safety Initiative - the overarching body that sets the highest standards for farms around the world- with a focus on ag practices, manufacturing practices, fair treatment of employees, hygiene, and cleaning/sanitation.
“Regardless of where your food is grown, if it’s sold in the United States are food safety regulations that are required of all growers.”
- Lori Taylor (3:20)
World Food Safety Day is just around the corner (June 7th), but really, food safety is of paramount importance every single day in the produce industry! This is a great time to talk about the steps taken in every single link of the supply chain to ensure you have safe, nutritious produce in your refrigerator.
What is food safety?
Food safety is somewhat of a buzzword today. We hear it tossed around a lot, but what exactly does it mean?
Technically speaking,
“Food safety is the practice of preventing chemical, physical, and biological contamination of food by using science and risk to evaluate systems.” Jennifer Pulcipher (4:50)
Simply put, food safety is an everyday practice of protecting the food from field to fork
And it’s important to know that everyone- even you- has a role to play to ensure they consume safe nutritious vegetables.
What are the day-to-day steps to ensure safety?
From the seed in the ground, to the smile on the consumer’s face, food safety is implemented every step of the way.
“We all want to provide safe, nutritious, wholesome food for our families.” Jennifer Pulcipher (9:00)
Let’s take a look at some of the measures put in place to make sure your food is clean and ready to eat!
Growing
Safe produce starts with healthy soil. North Bay Produce makes sure the soil growing your produce has adequate levels of minerals and nutrients to grow hearty, healthy crops.
When it comes to irrigation, clean water is crucial. This is one of the very first steps taken to ensure safety.
Harvesting
Healthy bodies are the epitome of what it takes to harvest clean specialty agriculture crops. These crops are delicate and require a human touch, as opposed to a mechanized harvesting process. For this reason, harvesters have to maintain strict hygiene standards, and are trained in best practices to ensure your food is clean from picking to packing house.
Packing
A lot of hands are involved in the packing process. Produce is put into boxes or clamshells and then packed to be transported. This is the most involved stage, and a lot of consideration has been put into a data driven, technological system to help each piece of produce reach its final destination in a safe and hygienic manner.
Shipping and distribution
This part of the process is almost seamless. The packaged food goes straight off the packing line into a warehouse, and then is transported to its new home - schools, restaurants, grocery stores, and ultim
“Food safety is the paramount goal for everyone in agriculture.”
Lori Taylor (16:42)
Jennifer Pulcipher is the Director of Food Safety and Compliance at North Bay Produce. With a degree in Food Safety from Michigan State University, and nearly a decade of experience in the field, she is an expert when it comes to keeping your food safe from the field to the fork. She oversees all programs related to safety and security of the supply chain to secure the integrity of food we buy in our local grocery stores.
North Bay produce is a grower owned cooperative with farms located throughout North and South America, and are also a big importer and exporter, supplying consumers in the United States with safely grown berries, apples, beans, peas, and dried fruit.
Whether the produce is grown practically in your backyard, or exported from around the world, the strictest standards are implemented to keep your food safe!
All of their suppliers are third party audited to the Global Food Safety Initiative - the overarching body that sets the highest standards for farms around the world- with a focus on ag practices, manufacturing practices, fair treatment of employees, hygiene, and cleaning/sanitation.
“Regardless of where your food is grown, if it’s sold in the United States are food safety regulations that are required of all growers.”
- Lori Taylor (3:20)
World Food Safety Day is just around the corner (June 7th), but really, food safety is of paramount importance every single day in the produce industry! This is a great time to talk about the steps taken in every single link of the supply chain to ensure you have safe, nutritious produce in your refrigerator.
What is food safety?
Food safety is somewhat of a buzzword today. We hear it tossed around a lot, but what exactly does it mean?
Technically speaking,
“Food safety is the practice of preventing chemical, physical, and biological contamination of food by using science and risk to evaluate systems.” Jennifer Pulcipher (4:50)
Simply put, food safety is an everyday practice of protecting the food from field to fork
And it’s important to know that everyone- even you- has a role to play to ensure they consume safe nutritious vegetables.
What are the day-to-day steps to ensure safety?
From the seed in the ground, to the smile on the consumer’s face, food safety is implemented every step of the way.
“We all want to provide safe, nutritious, wholesome food for our families.” Jennifer Pulcipher (9:00)
Let’s take a look at some of the measures put in place to make sure your food is clean and ready to eat!
Growing
Safe produce starts with healthy soil. North Bay Produce makes sure the soil growing your produce has adequate levels of minerals and nutrients to grow hearty, healthy crops.
When it comes to irrigation, clean water is crucial. This is one of the very first steps taken to ensure safety.
Harvesting
Healthy bodies are the epitome of what it takes to harvest clean specialty agriculture crops. These crops are delicate and require a human touch, as opposed to a mechanized harvesting process. For this reason, harvesters have to maintain strict hygiene standards, and are trained in best practices to ensure your food is clean from picking to packing house.
Packing
A lot of hands are involved in the packing process. Produce is put into boxes or clamshells and then packed to be transported. This is the most involved stage, and a lot of consideration has been put into a data driven, technological system to help each piece of produce reach its final destination in a safe and hygienic manner.
Shipping and distribution
This part of the process is almost seamless. The packaged food goes straight off the packing line into a warehouse, and then is transported to its new home - schools, restaurants, grocery stores, and ultim
19 min