TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors affecting growers' on-farm food safety practices
T2 - Evaluation findings from Penn State Extension programming
AU - Tobin, Daniel
AU - Thomson, Joan
AU - LaBorde, Luke
AU - Radhakrishna, Rama
N1 - Funding Information:
Partial funding for the work reported here was provided by the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program . Our gratitude is also extended to J. Dara Bloom for reviewing earlier versions of this article.
Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013/9
Y1 - 2013/9
N2 - As a leading cause of outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, fresh produce has increasingly received national attention in the United States. In response, fresh produce growers are seeking to implement Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in order to maintain market viability. U.S. Cooperative Extension must fill a critical role to help growers appropriately adapt their on-farm food safety practices. In order to usefully serve produce growers, Extension must conduct evaluations that provide relevant information to foster program improvement. Using data collected among Pennsylvania growers who participated in Penn State Extension's on-farm food safety programming, this study presents empirical evidence regarding the ways in which changes in growers' GAP knowledge, attitudes, and skills affect the GAP tasks that they implemented. Findings indicate that increases in technical information among growers do not necessarily translate into their performing GAP activities. Other influences, such as farm size and a desire to contribute to the safety of the produce supply, help motivate growers' decisions regarding their on-farm food safety practices. An understanding of the factors that determine growers' GAP activities will better position Extension to adapt its programmatic approaches and content, as well as its evaluation frameworks, to best serve the diverse needs of fresh produce growers.
AB - As a leading cause of outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, fresh produce has increasingly received national attention in the United States. In response, fresh produce growers are seeking to implement Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in order to maintain market viability. U.S. Cooperative Extension must fill a critical role to help growers appropriately adapt their on-farm food safety practices. In order to usefully serve produce growers, Extension must conduct evaluations that provide relevant information to foster program improvement. Using data collected among Pennsylvania growers who participated in Penn State Extension's on-farm food safety programming, this study presents empirical evidence regarding the ways in which changes in growers' GAP knowledge, attitudes, and skills affect the GAP tasks that they implemented. Findings indicate that increases in technical information among growers do not necessarily translate into their performing GAP activities. Other influences, such as farm size and a desire to contribute to the safety of the produce supply, help motivate growers' decisions regarding their on-farm food safety practices. An understanding of the factors that determine growers' GAP activities will better position Extension to adapt its programmatic approaches and content, as well as its evaluation frameworks, to best serve the diverse needs of fresh produce growers.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.foodcont.2013.02.015
DO - 10.1016/j.foodcont.2013.02.015
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84875246884
SN - 0956-7135
VL - 33
SP - 73
EP - 80
JO - Food Control
JF - Food Control
IS - 1
ER -