Food Safety
FOOD SAFETY CATEGORIES
Relevant Events
3rd Annual Western NY Fruit Growers Tour, Featuring Wayne County
July 31, 2025
Free Registration - 3rd Annual Western NY Fruit Growers Tour, Featuring Wayne County
July 31, 2025
Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water (Subpart E) Update
Craig Kahlke, Team Leader, Fruit Quality Management
Lake Ontario Fruit Program
FSMA has published a final rule on Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water. Largest growers need to be in compliance by early April 2025. On your FSMA inspection during this year's harvest, inspectors will be checking records and educating in this first year.
This rule applies to water used up to harvest. Pre-harvest ag water includes water you use in your crop protectants and spraying the edible portion of the crop anytime during the growing season.
NOTE: This does not apply to water used at harvest and post-harvest. That final rule is unchanged and folks need to comply now.
SOP to Clean & Sanitize Apple Picking Bags
Craig Kahlke, Team Leader, Fruit Quality Management
Lake Ontario Fruit Program
This is an SOP to clean and sanitize apple picking bags, developed by the Produce Safety Alliance, The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and the Lake Ontario Fruit Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Local Fruit Industry Employment Opportunities
The Lake Ontario Fruit Program would like to offer this space on our website to help the local fruit industry bring future employers and employees together. If you are looking for a local fruit industry job click on more details to see what is available.
Lake Ontario Fruit Webinar Recording & Video Links
LOF Fruit Bites
See details to check out quick "how to" videos on a variety of fruit and orchard topics.
Organizations Offering Respirator Fit Testing
Partial list of organizations offering respirator fit testing compiled by the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH)
When inquiring, ask these organizations about their fee structure, whether or not they will come to you, and if they can test the brand and model of your mask(s). Note that this list is evolving and may change over time.
Listeria - Why is it Not Going Away? - Part II
Craig Kahlke, Team Leader, Fruit Quality Management
Lake Ontario Fruit Program
Follow up to Part I article. The original part II article appeared in Issue 3 of the Fruit Notes newsletter, March 22, 2017.
Listeria - Why is it Not Going Away? - Part I
Craig Kahlke, Team Leader, Fruit Quality Management
Lake Ontario Fruit Program
This is Part I of an important article on Listeria monocytogenes contamination on fresh produce. Included are descriptions of the deadly Jensen Farms outbreak on cantaloupe from Colorado in 2011 along with the Bidart Brothers (California) outbreak on fresh and caramelized apples in 2014 that also hospitalized and killed several people.
Some of the biology and the persistence of this deadly pathogen is discussed, as well as detection methods and possible places that can harbor Listeria and allow it to grow. How to reduce risk of Listeria contamination in the packinghouse is introduced.
Part II of the article is in the Second Issue of the Fruit Notes, Volume 17, Issue 2.
Microbial Water Quality Profile Calculator for Surface Water (FSMA requirments)
Craig Kahlke, Team Leader, Fruit Quality Management
Lake Ontario Fruit Program
One of the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act is water testing for surface and ground water. Those growers using surface or ground water in production (pre-harvest) for crop protectant sprays or irrigation need to develop a Microbial Water Quality Profile (MWQP). This requires 20 water tests per surface source in the 2-4 years PRIOR to compliance dates. Large business (>$500K annual fresh produce sales over 3 years) need to be in compliance for the water requirement by January of 2020. The tests need to be quantified generic E.coli. The easiest way to develop your MWQP is to perform 5 tests each growing season from 2016-2019. Alternatively, you could do 6-7 tests per year from 2017-2019, or 10 tests/yr in 2018 and 2019. See the Excel spreadsheet below for the Western Center for Produce Safety at UC Davis's MWQP die-off calculator. Instructions are in the firs tab.
Food Safety Resources
Craig Kahlke, Team Leader, Fruit Quality Management
Lake Ontario Fruit Program
The Produce Safety Alliance is your Link to stay updated on Food Safety as it applies to growers and packers. This includes updates of future requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
Click here: The Produce Safety Alliance is your Link to stay updated on Food Safety as it applies to growers and packers. This includes updates of future requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
Click here: producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/
Apples
Apricots
Asian Pears
Blueberries
Cherries
Currants
Gooseberries
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Plums
Raspberries / Blackberries
Strawberries
Unusual Fruit
Upcoming Events
2025 Apple Social
July 17, 2025 : Wayne County - Apple Social
Williamson, NY
Please join us at this casual networking event for all apple industry folks from Western NY, proudly sponsored by Valent. There will be a brief introduction of the Lake Ontario Fruit Program, and from attending specialists.
July 24, 2025 : Orleans County - Apple Social
Lyndonville, NY
Please join us at this casual networking event for all apple industry folks from Western NY, proudly sponsored by Valent. There will be a brief introduction of the Lake Ontario Fruit Program, and from attending specialists.
2025 Cornell In-Depth Fruit School Recordings
April 8, 2025
July 31, 2025
: Recording Available for 2025 Cornell In-Depth Fruit School
Access to the 2025 Cornell In-Depth Fruit School recordings are now available for purchase.
3rd Annual Western NY Fruit Growers Tour, Featuring Wayne County
July 31, 2025
Registration open!
We are excited to announce the 3rd annual Western New York Fruit Grower Tour, the premier fruit tour of the northeast brought to you by Cornell Cooperative Extension's Lake Ontario Fruit Program and Lake Ontario Ag Consulting, LLC! Located in Wayne County, this orchard field day will highlight new and existing products, chemistries, practices, technologies & equipment that shape the orchard industry today. The Western NY Fruit Grower Tour will again combine two past orchard tour events, the LOF Summer Fruit Tour and the Wayne County Fruit Grower Tour, giving industry members the opportunity to conveniently showcase their product offerings to ONE unified group at ONE time and place!
* Schedule subject to change.