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CapitalPress.com
March 13, 2015
California
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Expert: Cleanliness, good hygiene key to food safety
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
REDDING, Calif. — Some
30 growers sat at tables as food
safety expert Jennifer Sower-
wine led them through a mock
hand-washing exercise just be-
fore lunch.
At her urging, they sang their
“ABCs” or “Happy Birthday”
to themselves to time how long
they should wash. Then she sent
everyone to a sink to wash their
hands for real.
“I’ve always washed my
hands,” said Johanna Trenerry,
who grows artichokes, berries
and other produce in Happy
Valley, Calif. “They say if you
do your ABCs you can get your
hands clean. Now I just say a
prayer.”
Thorough
hand-washing
and other basic hygiene and
cleanliness are key to growers
as food-safety regulations loom,
Sowerwine stressed to grow-
ers during a March 5 workshop
sponsored by the University of
California Cooperative Exten-
sion.
Sowerwine, a specialist in
metropolitan agriculture and
food systems at UC-Berkeley,
told growers that keeping hoses,
bins and other equipment clean
and keeping animals away from
the crop are important to any
farm’s food safety plan.
Food safety plans should ad-
dress measures the farm takes
Online
University of California Small
Farms Program: http://sfp.
ucdavis.edu
Community Alliance with
Family Farmers: http://caff.org
with regard to water, animals,
soil, surfaces and hygiene, she
said, adding that growers should
keep good records of their efforts.
Frequent hand washing is
crucial, and growers with U-pick
operations should require that
visitors wash their hands, she
said. Using soap and water is
best, as hand sanitizers don’t kill
viruses that can get into food, she
said.
“You don’t want to handle
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Jennifer Sowerwine, a Coop-
erative Extension specialist in
metropolitan agriculture and
food systems, speaks March 5
on food safety.
produce with dirty hands,” she
said.
Sowerwine’s advice came
in an all-day event geared to
small growers in which she
showed them how to fill out
forms and create their own
plans to meet requirements un-
der the Food Safety Modern-
ization Act.
The meeting in Redding
was one of several that Sow-
erwine has held for growers
around the state. She said
coaching small farms on com-
pliance is important because
many large operations can af-
ford to hire someone to devel-
op a food safety plan, yet small
farms must do it themselves.
“I think there’s big concern
about what the implications
are for their own farm,” Sow-
erwine said in an interview.
“People are concerned about
potentially losing access to
markets if they’re not able to
comply with some of the rules.
They’re concerned about hav-
ing to add extra work.”
Growers were grateful to
have the expert advice.
“I’m definitely interested in
learning and doing everything
that’s required,” said Mary Oc-
asion, who grows artichokes
just south of Redding.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration is set to finalize
rules for food manufacturing
and produce safety this year,
marking the second phase of
its implementation of the 2011
food safety law.
Advisers honored as pioneers of rangeland water quality
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SANTA ROSA, Calif. —
Some 20 years ago, Stepha-
nie Larson-Praplan and John
Harper were pioneers in
rangeland water quality man-
agement.
The two University of Cal-
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ifornia Cooperative Extension
farm advisers helped ranchers
along the state’s northern coast
keep track of measures to pro-
tect water quality, such as hav-
ing cattle drink from a trough
rather than from creeks.
Now they hope ranchers’
voluntary efforts can serve as an
example as the state considers
adopting regulations to manage
water quality near where live-
stock graze and roam.
Protecting water quality
“is one of those things that
ranchers do in general for the
benefit of their animals,” Lar-
son-Praplan said. “What we
did was help them document
those efforts … to show the
regulators that these guys can,
on their own, take voluntary
compliance (measures).”
For their efforts, Sonoma
County’s Larson-Praplan and
Mendocino County’s Harper
were recently given lifetime
achievement awards from
the Society for Range Man-
agement, which promotes the
sustainable use of rangelands.
“John and Stephanie have
been valued colleagues and
friends for more than 20
years,” Melvin George, a re-
tired UCCE
specialist
who
nomi-
nated
Lar-
son-Praplan,
said in an
email. “Both
Stephanie
were instru-
mental, be- Larson-Praplan
ginning in the
early ’90s, in helping to start
the rangeland water quality
program that conducted edu-
cation programs for ranchers
so that they could address
water quality issues related to
grazing and ranching.”
A livestock, range and
natural resources adviser in
Sonoma and Marin counties
since the early 1980s, Lar-
son-Praplan developed a wa-
ter quality education program
to help rangeland owners
comply with total maximum
daily load (TMDL) regula-
tions and initiated a system
that documents water quality
and best management prac-
tices, according to an award
nomination document.
Her “Notice of Intent” sys-
tem has been adopted by the
North Coast Regional Water
Quality Control Board and lat-
er extended to
the Napa and
Sonoma Creek
watersheds,
enabling land-
owners
in
those
areas
comply with John Harper
clean water
regulations.
Harper, a livestock and nat-
ural resources adviser, helped
more than 150 landowners
representing over 100,000
acres in Lake and Mendocino
counties prepare water quali-
ty plans, inventory sediment
sources and implement prac-
tices to maintain clean water,
according to his nomination
papers.
As a result of his efforts,
more than 1,000 ranches
statewide have developed
water quality plans and sev-
en watershed groups were
formed in Lake and Mendoci-
no counties.
Their efforts come as the
State Water Resources Con-
trol Board is set to propose
rules later this year under
its Grazing Regulatory Ac-
tion Project, which it asserts
would enhance the environ-
Online
Society for Range Manage-
ment: http://www.rangelands.
org
mental benefits from grazing
while addressing its impacts
on water quality.
The north coast regional
board — which has heavily
scrutinized rangeland practices
since the late 1990s to protect
various endangered species —
has touted the ranchers’ vol-
untary efforts as an example,
Larson-Praplan said.
“My regional board has
reached out to me in recogni-
tion of all the work that’s been
done with voluntary compli-
ance, ranch planning and all
the steps we’ve taken with
the ranchers,” she said. “They
recognize this is the best way
to achieve success.”
Larson-Praplan said she
was honored to receive the
rangeland group’s award.
“This is a job I do out of
love, and I was quite proud
that the people who nominat-
ed me have not only been col-
laborators but mentors, sup-
porters and friends,” she said.
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