Keeping It Clean: A Grower’s Guide to Freshcare Hygiene, Pests & People (F8, F9, F10)

You’ve managed the risks in your soil and water, but food safety doesn’t stop there. The period during and after harvest, when produce is handled, packed, and stored, is rife with opportunities for contamination. This is where your farm’s hygiene practices become the first line of defence. 

The Freshcare standard groups these crucial controls under three key elements: your Place (facilities & equipment, F8), the Pests (animals, F9), and your People (workers, F10). 

At AgriQulture Consulting, we help growers turn these rules into simple, everyday habits. Let’s break down what you need to do to keep your operation clean, compliant, and safe. 

1. Your Place: Premises, Facilities & Equipment (F8)

Your packhouse, storage sheds, and equipment are more than just infrastructure; they are food handling environments. Freshcare requires them to be built and maintained in a way that actively prevents contamination. 

What you need to do: 

• Maintain Your Structures: Facilities must be designed and maintained to minimise risk. This means ensuring there is no flaking paint, rust, or dirt that could fall onto produce. Floors should be in good repair and have adequate drainage to prevent water from pooling. 

• Control Physical Hazards: Any lights located above produce handling or storage areas must be fitted with shatter-proof covers or be shatter-proof bulbs. Glass and other brittle plastics should be removed from these areas where possible. 

• Use Food-Safe Surfaces: Any surface that directly contacts produce must be made of non-toxic, non-absorbent materials that can be easily cleaned and sanitised. Porous materials like untreated wood or carpet are not suitable for packing lines. 

• Document Your Plans: You must have a documented Preventive Maintenance Plan and a Cleaning Plan for all your facilities and equipment. 

Why it matters: 

A poorly maintained facility can be a direct source of all three types of hazards. Physical contamination can come from flaking paint or broken lights. Chemical contamination can come from oil or grease leaks on equipment. Microbial contamination can thrive in hard-to-clean areas, cracks, and standing water, which can harbour bacteria like Listeria. 

Auditor’s Insight: 

An auditor will walk through your packhouse with a critical eye. They’ll look for potential hazards like dripping condensation from cooling units, uncovered lights, and areas where dirt and debris can accumulate. They will then ask to see your cleaning and maintenance records to verify your plans are being followed. 

2. Pests & Animals (F9)

While they are a normal part of farm life, animals and pests pose a significant food safety risk and must be actively managed. 

What you need to do: 

• Take active measures to minimise the presence of pests and exclude domestic animals and wildlife from areas where produce is grown, packed, and stored. 

• You must have a documented pest management plan. This plan needs to detail the methods you use, the location of baits and traps, how often they are checked, and who is responsible for managing them. 

• Ensure that any baits and traps are located and contained to prevent the risk of chemical contamination of your produce or packaging. 

Why it matters: 

Animals are a major source of food safety hazards. Rodents, insects, and birds can carry and spread human pathogens like Salmonella in their faeces. They can also introduce physical contaminants such as hair, feathers, and nesting materials into your packing line. 

AgriQulture Tip: 

This applies to pets, too. Domestic animals like dogs and cats must be excluded from all areas where produce is harvested, packed, or stored. While they may be part of the family, to an auditor, they are a contamination risk. 

3. Your People (F10)

Your team is your most important asset, but they are also a primary vehicle for contamination. Proper training and facilities are non-negotiable. 

What you need to do: 

• Provide Written Instructions: You must provide all workers and visitors with written food safety instructions covering health status, personal hygiene, handwashing, and appropriate clothing and behaviour. 

• Establish a Sickness Policy: Workers who are known or suspected to be suffering from an illness likely to be transmitted through food (like gastroenteritis) must report it to management and are not permitted to handle produce. 

• Provide Compliant Facilities: Your toilets and handwashing stations must be clean, accessible, and well-stocked with running water, liquid soap, and a mechanism for effective hand drying (i.e., single-use paper towels or an air dryer). 

Why it matters: 

As the FPSC guidelines state, several major foodborne illness outbreaks have been traced directly back to an ill or contaminated worker handling produce. Pathogens can be easily transferred onto produce from unwashed hands after using the toilet or from coughing and sneezing. 

The Essentials for Compliance: 

• Handwashing: This is a critical control point. Hands must be washed after visiting the toilet, eating, smoking, or sneezing. The use of common cloth towels is not acceptable as they can re-contaminate clean hands. 

• Induction: Use Freshcare’s Form – F10 Food safety instructions as a simple but comprehensive checklist for inducting all new staff, family members, and contractors.