Food Safety - Main Street Produce
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Food Safety

The Leading Edge

Food safety has always been a primary concern at Main Street Produce, and we are on the leading edge of industry standards. From our meticulous observation of Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices, to conducting regular and rigorous third party audits ensuring that all of our product is safe and fully traceable, we are completely committed to the highest standards of food safety.

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Best Practices

Safe and Traceable

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Traceability

All of our produce is tracked through an internal data base system. This allows us to trace each clamshell of strawberries back to the ranch from which it was harvested. It also allows us to trace each box of broccoli back not only to the ranch, but to the block from which it was harvested. We know when the product was harvested, by whom, and how it got to its final destination.

Traceability is important because in the unlikely event that possible safety risks were to be identified, we would be able to immediately trace the produce back to its source and be able to isolate the problem and prevent potentially contaminated products from reaching the customer. Having this information also allows for targeted withdrawals and provides accurate information to the public, therefore minimizing the panic that can occur when such information is unavailable.

GAP

Main Street Produce, and its sister company, Freshway Farms, have designed a Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) program that is ingrained in the company culture and is a major part of the curriculum that is taught to all field employees.

Our GAP program deals with all aspects of the farming process, from growing the crops to harvesting and packaging them. The program covers topics ranging from eliminating the threat of potential cross contamination from adjacent land to ensuring that all inputs used in the farming process are free of any kind of potential hazards. It also addresses proper harvesting, handling, packaging and transporting procedures to reduce any possible hazards that may occur.

Finally, there is a strong emphasis on sanitary operations, focusing not only on personal sanitary practices such as hand washing and proper clothing but also on the proper and regular sanitation of harvesting equipment and the responsible behavior of the operators of that equipment.

GMP

Our Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) program ensures that we adhere to the best practices in the processing and packing, storage, and shipping of all produce that goes through our cooling facility. The program provides all team members with detailed procedures regarding the correct way to complete the work that takes place in the cooler. It also includes personal and equipment sanitation, procedures for visitors, special clothing that must be worn, and guidelines for the truck and forklift drivers, maintenance, office, production and sanitation personnel.

Third-Party Audits

In addition to conducting routine self-checks to make sure that our GAP and GMP practices are being meticulously followed, we also voluntarily engage Primus Labs, an industry leading third-party auditing company, to conduct their own independent Primus GFS audits of our operations. Primus GFS is a Global Food Safety Initiative benchmarked and fully recognized audit covering both GAP and GMP as well as food safety management systems. Because of the well-known rigor of this audit, we are very proud of the fact that Main Street Produce is Primus GFS certified.