Good Agricultural Practice
Quality Assurance Overview
Sweet Darling Sales, Inc. Watsonville CA

 

Larse Farms, Inc., Producer
Sweet Darling Sales, Inc.

Planting occurs during October of the Year prior to harvest.
Harvest and Packing: March through November

Trace back system by cross reference of sales line item to farm production lot number and a package code label applied to case packages for traceback of product shipped. The code designates location ID, dept. ID, variety ID and data.

Larse Farms, Inc. is a State of California Certified Producer of fresh strawberries.

SOP details avail upon request

Independent Third-Party Auditors (ITPA)
Primus Laboratories (805) 922-0055

Sweet Darling Sales, Inc. Larse Farms, Inc.
Location 1 Buena Vista, 2 Playa, 3 Springfield, 4 GHR, 5 Mort
 
Administration SOP no_ 01-01
Statement of Intent:  Larse Farms Sweet Darling Sales GAP-SOP Food Safety Program
Approved By John Larse, Revision no_ 11    2007.07.16
Purpose
To prevent danger to public health of food borne pathogens. This good agriculture practice quality assurance and standard operating procedure is intended to achieve safe consumer fresh produce food product. All employees will adhere to Standard Operating Procedures SOP established herein.
Concern
At various times during the past, persons have become ill after eating fresh produce contaminated with food borne pathogens causing gastro-intestinal disease, kidney failure, infectious blood transmitted diseases and even death.
Contaminants Introduction
  • Facilities maintained in sanitary condition and operated according to standard operating procedures.
  • Land used for farming maintained in sanitary condition and operated according to standard operating procedures.
  • Risk of infectious disease contamintaion of growing food crops
  • Risk of infectious disease blood, fecal and other types of contamination during the production, harvest, packing and post-harvest processes.
  • Risk of infectious disease contamination of already harvested fresh produce commodity.
  • Standing Water in produce growing areas
  • Impingement of wild life into produce growing areas
  • Incursion of Manure Product During the Spreading of Manure by Adjacent Farming Operations
Preventative or Corrective Measures
  1. Standard Operating Procedures on multiple catagory groups will be maintained and periodically updated.
  2. Designated GAP Administrator implementaton of GAP-SOP
  3. Supervisor training in SOP's.
  4. Employee food worder sanitation training, checklist inspection and monitoring record of  procedures, employee compliance enforcement of sanitation regulations, employee non-compliance action. 
  5. On going monitor of property and facility boundries preventative action against incursion of contamination.
  6. Soil Testing for Contaminants
  7. Water Testing for Contaminants
  8. Daily Employee Sanitation Regulation Inspections
  9. Daily Toilet and Washing Facilites Checklist Inspections
  10. Employee training to immediatly report possible suspected contaminant incursion. c.f. SOP no_ 01-04
Good Agricultural Practice [GAP] overview:

FIELD SANITATION FACILITIES

  • Field toilets maintained to meet and exceed State and Federal standards for accessibility and sanitary conditions.
  • Minimum 1 facility per 20 employees per gender; 1/10 mile, less than 2-minute walk per employee.
  • Field toilets have self-closing doors.
  • LFI field toilets are cleaned often and properly constructed to prevent ground and water contamination during clean-out process.
  • Average number of employees per week during harvest: 940. Number of field toilets in use: 64.
  • LFI enforces compliance with rules for sanitary conditions of toilet facilties and maintenance. Company contracted by LFI to ensure maintenance, sanitation procedures, and frequency of cleaning is Ajax Portable Services, Hollister, CA (831) 637-4930.

DRINKING WATER

  • LFI provides de-ionized bottled drinking water, available throughout daily work shifts in plentiful 5-gallon sterilized water bottles with single-use drinking cups.
  • Bottled drinking water supplied by Water-U-Want, 2037 N. Main Street, Salinas, CA (831) 442-2482

MEDICAL LEAVE AND ILLNESS

  • Written policy handbook submitted to each employee.

FRESH PRODUCE WORKER HAND WASHING AND PERSONAL HYGIENE

  • LFI adheres to written standard operating procedures.s Hand washing and personal hygiene food worker regulations and methods are taught during training sessions, checklist inspections and as new workers join the company throughout the growing and harvest seasons.
  • Including but not limited to the: sanitation procedures for rinsing and cleaning of wash water tanks; frequency of replenishment; source of hand washing water.
  • LFI has put checklist inspection procedure in place to regularly check hand washing water, soap, single-use towels; toilet paper; signs indicating "for hand washing purposes only." This procedure is strictly enforced by our supervisors.
  • LFI provides its farm supervisors and foremen daily inspection checklists [FCH-xx-xx-xx] are submitted together with workers’ daily hours. Checklists contain status information on water, single-use towels and soap replenishment.

PRODUCE FARM AND FOOD WORKER HYGIENE RULES

  • It is LFI policy that produce handlers, supervisors and foremen are trained on proper food protection principles and informed of the dangers of poor personal hygiene and unsanitary practices.
  • Any worker who smokes tobaco, expectorates saliva, uses chewing tobaco, chewing gum or eating while working near food product will be terminated.
  • LFI provides its farm supervisors with daily sanitation and employee hygiene inspection checklists and logs which are submitted to GAP Administration.
  • Infectious Disease Info posted at harvest sites and toilet facilites:
    1. Any person who, by medical examination, is shown to have any kind of illness or injury, or any other abnormal source of microbial contamination by which there is reasonable possibility of food, food-contact surfaces, or food packaging materials being contaminated, shall be expected to report such conditions to their supervisor and/or foreman. It is LFI's policy to exclude and person with said condition from any and all operations which may be expected to result in such contamination until the condition is corrected.
  • Methods approved by LFI for maintaining cleanliness include but are not limited to:
    1. Wearing outer garments suitable to the operation in a manner that protects against the contamination of food, food-contact surfaces, or food packaging materials.
    2. Maintaining adequate personal cleanliness.
    3. Washing hands thoroughly (and sanitizing if necessary to protect against contamination with undesirable organisms) in an adequate hand-washing facility before beginning work, after each absence from the work station, and any other time when the hands and gloves may have become soiled or contaminated.
    4. Removing all jewelry, earrings and other objects that might fall into the product, equipment and containers, and removing hand jewelry during periods in which food is manipulated by hand. If such hand jewelry cannot be removed, then gloves made of an impermeable material shall be worn.
    5. Maintaining gloves in an intact, clean and sanitary condition. The gloves should be of an impermeable material.
    6. Wearing hairnets or caps in an effective manner, hairnets, caps, beard covers or other effective hair restraints.
    7. Wearing each day clean clothing, with long sleeve shirt.
    8. Any worker who smokes tobaco, uses chewing tobaco, chewing gum or eating while working near food product will be warned first and re-trained in sanitation regulations for food production. A Second offense is cause for temination of employement.
    9. ! Any worker who spits or expectorates saliva will be terminated from employment.
    10. Entering the property of any ranch location by infants or children or domestic animal is prohibited. Not allowed on property in cars, or on foot, nor in parking lots or fields. There is danger of Bio-Hazard Contamination by diapers, urine, fecal matter and litter.
    11. All garbage recepticles will be lined with plastic bags. Recipticles for garbage will be kept clean.
Food Safety Good Agricultural Practice [GAP]
    Training    Inspection    Checklist    Compliance
Standard Operating Procedure
 
   Mission Statement
 
   Sop no_ xx-xx   
Adjacent Lands SOP  Adjacent Land Evaluate Threat of Contamination to Farm Fields From Neighbors SOP no_ 03-01
Adjacent Lands SOP  VOC Pollution Monitoring SOP no_ 03-02
Adjacent Lands SOP  Bio Hazard Incursion From Another Farm or Neighbor SOP no_ 03-03
Adjacent Lands SOP  Special Situation On Adjacent Land SOP no_ 03-04
Administration SOP  Statement of Intent:  Larse Farms Sweet Darling Sales GAP-SOP Food Safety Program SOP no_ 01-01
Administration SOP  The SOP Object Model Standard Formatting Schema SOP no_ 01-02
Administration SOP  Review Process Required for Revision of an SOP SOP no_ 01-03
Administration SOP  Contamination Risk Awareness Reporting by Employee SOP no_ 01-04
Administration SOP  Administrators of Record Larse Farms Sweet Darling SOP
Administradores de Procidimientos Operacion Standard [POS} 		SOP no_ 01-05
Administration SOP  Supervisor Assumes Personal GAP Responsibility and Employee Non-Compliance Procedure SOP no_ 01-06
Administration SOP  Trace Back, a Business Process For Date andFarm Lot ID of Product Shipped SOP no_ 01-07
Facility Sanitation SOP  Statement of Intent- Sweet Darling Coolway GMP- SOP Food Safety Program
Facility Sanitation SOP  Facility Sanitation Crate Shed SOP no_ 11-01
Facility Sanitation SOP  ¡ English Version Revised: Spanish Translation Needs Update !
Cooling Facility Sanitation Maintnance Procedure, Employee Training, Inpsection, Compliance Enforcement and Record Keeping 		SOP no_ 11-02
Fertilizer Usage SOP  Agricultural Fertilizer: Vendor to Supply Letter of Assurance and For Each Fertilizer Material and MSDS Must Be On File at LFI Office SOP no_ 04-02
Fertilizer Usage SOP  Application of Fertilizers and Organic Soil Amendments SOP no_ 04-03
Fertilizer Usage SOP  Pre-Plant Fertilizer Applications SOP no_04-04
Field Sanitation SOP  Employees Cars Than Break Down In The Field 08-14
Field Sanitation SOP  Sanitation Training For Employees Regarding Hygiene, Clothing, Hands Inspection, Infectious Disease, Blood, Fecal Matter, Awareness and Reporting Bio Hazard in Farm Field SOP no_ 08-01
Field Sanitation SOP  Sanitation Toilet Facilites Requirement for On-Site Toilet and Hand Washing Equipment and Outside Contractor SOP no_ 08-02
Field Sanitation SOP  Specific Hand Wash Procedures and Daily Hand Inspection Procedure SOP no_ 08-03
Field Sanitation SOP  Procedures for Cleaning Harvest Aid Equipment and Packing Tables SOP no_ 08-04
Field Sanitation SOP  List of All Daily Sanitation Inspection Checklists and Logs:  Supervisor to Perform Daily Sanitation Checklist and Enforce Employee Sanitation Requirement SOP no_ 08-05
Field Sanitation SOP  Infants and Children Not Allowed On Any Farm Site. Not allowed in car, not allowed in parking lot. SOP no_ 08-07
Field Sanitation SOP  Garbage Cans Must Have Plastic Bag Liners SOP no_ 08-08
Field Sanitation SOP  Litter and Trash Shall Not Be Left Along Field Areas, Roads and Parking Lots SOP no_ 08-09
Field Sanitation SOP  Field Toilet Facilites Clean-Out Regulations: Clean-Out of Toilets Will Be Done Outside of Farm Field Crop Growing Area At Designated Location as Noted On Ranch Maps SOP no_ 08-10
Field Sanitation SOP  Pets Not Allowed on Property. Not in Cars, Not in Parking lot, not in fields. SOP no_ 08-11
Field Sanitation SOP  Training For Supervisors Regarding Training Forms and Logs SOP no_ 08-12
Field Sanitation SOP  Bio-Hazard Awareness and Identification of Bio-Hazard in Production Field SOP no_ 08-13
Field Sanitation SOP  Employees' Vehicles SOP no_ 08-14
Field Sanitation SOP  The Cars Of The Employees That Break Down In The Field SOP no_ 08-14
Field Sanitation SOP  Displinary Action of Non-Compliance Employees SOP no_ 08-15
Irrigation WaterSOP Microbial Contamination of WaterSOP no_ 05-01
Irrigation Water SOP  Pesticide Contamination of Water SOP no_ 05-02
Irrigation Water SOP  VOC Contamination of Irrigation Water From Water Table Pollution SOP no_ 05-03
Irrigation Water SOP  Security Inspections Of The Water Wells SOP no_ 05-04
Irrigation Water SOP  Bacterial Sampling Procedures From Water Source SOP no_05-05
Irrigation Water SOP  Desinfecting Water Well Procedures SOP no_05-06
Irrigation Water SOP  Monitoring Cotamination Recycled Water SOP no_05-07
Irrigation Water SOP  Bacterial Sampling Procedures for Recycled Water SOP no_05-08
Product Testing SOP  Produce Samples Will be Tested for Residue SOP no_ 07-01
Product Testing SOP  Product Quality Evaluation SOP no_ 07-02

SOP details avail upon request

Independent Third-Party Auditors (ITPA)
Primus Laboratories (805) 922-0055

©1998-2010 Sweet Darling Sales, Inc.
Watsonville, CA
(831) 684-2342