Food Safety in Local Farming of Fruits and Vegetables

Abstract

The world’s population will be around 9 billion people by 2050. Humans need to feed in order to survive and thus the high demographic growth may impact the sustainability of our food systems. Sustainable food production practices such as local farming have been explored. Consumption of vegetables and fruits has been increasing due to their health benefits, but this increase is also related to a significant number of foodborne outbreaks. Foodborne outbreaks pose a threat to public health and the economy on a local and national scale. Food safety begins on the farm and proceeds over the supply chain. Thus, to provide safe products, food producers must follow specific procedures to avoid food hazards along the supply chain. This work aimed to present the importance of food safety in vegetables and fruits in local farming, as this form of production and consumption has increased in several countries of the northern hemisphere and as these are considered a form of providing more sustainable food products.

Evaluation of Raw Cheese as a Novel Source of Biofertilizer with a High Level of Biosecurity for Blueberry

“…This aspect can be a remarkable problem because, in recent years, the need to find highly efficient biofertilizers has led to the search for bacterial genera that, despite presenting excellent mechanisms for promoting plant growth, have characteristic pathogenicity such as that observed with Burkholderia, Enterobacter, Ochrobactrum, Ralstonia, Staphylococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Serratia or Klebsiella [49]. This aspect has been frequently considered when inputs with a high microbial load are used, such as sewage sludge, compost tea or compost, in which the population composition of microorganisms found in the product is not controlled and which often incorporates pathogenic taxa with the negative implications that they present for the health of the applicator and, mainly, for the final consumer; this is especially relevant when referring to a product for fresh consumption [50,51]. In addition, in recent years, research seems to have focused on genera such as Serratia or Pantoea because they have excellent mechanisms for promoting plant growth, such as phosphate solubilization, phytohormone production and nitrogen fixation, in some cases [13,52]; however, their use is subject to their pathogenic nature, as some authors have mentioned [53], being aware that the benefits of their use are fewer than the negative implications they present with respect to human health.…”

Applications of Essential Oils as Antibacterial Agents in Minimally Processed Fruits and Vegetables—A Review

“…In recent decades, foodborne outbreaks associated with raw fruit and vegetable consumption have increased. This has led to researchers and health authorities (in food safety areas) analyzing the microbial contamination of fresh produce [16][17][18][19][20]. There is growing concern about the potential risks of microbiological proliferation, owing to the high-levels of manipulation that these types of products are subject to and the increase in MPFV consumption worldwide.…”

Evaluation of Pesticide Residues Occurrence in Random Samples of Organic Fruits and Vegetables Marketed in Poland

“…According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the recommended fruit and vegetable consumption, excluding potatoes and other starchy tubers, is a minimum of 400 g (or five 80 g portions) per day [49]. As fruits and vegetables are the food groups most frequently contaminated with pesticide residues, the increase of fruit and vegetables consumption should be accompanied by their responsible choice (i.e., local, organic produce, significantly less frequently contaminated with pesticide residues) [50]. It is important to mention that organic fruits and vegetables also have been reported to contain, on average, more health-promoting bioactive substances (i.e., certain groups of phenolic compounds) [44,51,52], which is considered as one of the major factors responsible for their health-beneficial properties [44,53,54].…”

“…This also applies to organic food producers, who should precisely follow the rules of the organic production methods in this regard. Care for food safety starts with production on the farm and extends throughout the whole supply chain [50].…”