Iowa Ag Connection - Free Agricultural Water Food Safety Testing

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Free Agricultural Water Food Safety Testing
Iowa Ag Connection - 05/27/2016

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach food safety specialists will be providing free agricultural water food safety testing for up to 100 hobby gardeners and very small fruit and vegetable producers in Iowa for an upcoming ISU Extension and Outreach research project titled "Educating Iowans about the importance of water food safety when growing fruits and vegetables."

The Food and Drug Administration's Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Rule requires fruit and vegetable growers to test all agricultural water that is used for handwashing and during the growing, harvesting and processing of fruits and vegetables. This rule requires that this agricultural water must have less than 126 colony forming units of generic Escherichia coli for safe production.

The ISU Extension and Outreach research team wants to assist hobby gardeners and very small farmers with testing their agricultural water used within their fruit and vegetable garden or farm. The first 100 agricultural water samples will be sampled for the presence and quantity of generic Escherichia coli at no cost. Only one agricultural water sample per garden/farm will be accepted and growers must be located in Iowa. All sample criteria must accompany the sample.

To participate, three items are needed:

-- Two samples of at least 500 mL of agricultural water from an untreated surface source (e.g., pond, lagoon, rain barrel, etc.) or untreated ground source (e.g., well); collect in a sterile container (such as a specimen cup from a doctor's office or an unused, emptied water bottle)

-- Indication of the use of this agricultural water (e.g., handwashing, drip irrigation, overhead irrigation, produce rinsing)

-- Indication of the market the fruits and vegetables will be sold or given to (e.g., food pantry, grocer, restaurant, farmers market, hospital, school, etc.)

Those interested in participating should send these items with their contact information including name, address, phone number, and email to Angela Shaw, 2312 Food Science Building, Ames, IA 50011. Samples should be overnighted under refrigeration (i.e., an ice pack with paper or bubble wrap between water sample and ice pack). Iowa State University is open Monday-Friday and samples must arrive between 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Contact Shaw with any questions at angelaml@iastate.edu. For more information, go to www.safeproduce.cals.iastate.edu under Iowa GAP. This research project is funded by Iowa State University Human Sciences Extension and Outreach.

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