No matter what systems are in place there's no way to have zero risk when it comes to producing and handling the food that ends up on dinner tables across the country.
However, food safety measures are in place according to food production industry insiders, who adhere to strict practices to make food as safe as possible for consumption.
"Food safety begins on the farm," Rolando Gonzalez, the quality assurance manager for Bix Produce Company, told students in the Global Food Systems: Fresh Produce class during a recent outing to the St. Paul business. "We need a system to promote food safety and to prevent contamination."
It was a message that SPH associate professor Craig Hedberg was eager to pass along to the students enrolled in the class. The purpose of the trip to Bix was, "to give students a look inside the industry so they can better appreciate where food comes from and how it's handled," he says.
As part of the daylong field trip, the 25 students also visited the Minneapolis Farmers Market, a grocery store, and a farm.
For Madalyn Ferrer, an M.P.H. student in environmental health, the outing was enlightening. Because of recent high-profile food-borne outbreaks with produce, "it was interesting to see the critical control points when food is produced," she says.
Classmate Tim Goldsmith agrees. The Executive Program in Public Health Practice student says the field trip expanded his knowledge of the global food system, as most of his experience is in animal production. "I wanted to see what happens in the processing and handling of produce," he adds.
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