Measurable Objectives in a written food safety plan for a farmer

Hello,

I am trying to figure out how to incorporate and write measurable objectives into a small farming operation.  I grow various crops of potatoes and onions and have created a Food Safety Plan that has encompassed my entire farming operation. Chemical, biological and physical hazards.

I only employ maybe 15 workers during the season, with 10 of them that I use at harvest. I have implemented training procedures that are job related for employees, water testing for crop irrigation (with a set limit of microbial count), sanitation and preventative maintenance on farming equipment, numerous written SOPs and policies, supplier/vendor list and an extensive chemical and nutrient application logs .

My question is...I don't know what I could consider as a measurable objective.  I look on this site and I see processors, packinghouses and bakeries that detail extensive measurable objectives that have implemented the SMART procedure.  

Having a hard time figuring out how to bring it at a small level.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi Sherri,

In addition to the answer above, you can relate your objectives to what you already do on the food safety topic.

• Crop irrigation - No exceedings
• Training test after the training - (for example) 80 % positive score of understanding the training
• Establishment of a maximum percentage of green potatoes (solanine forming)
• You can also have a look in your customer requirements and translate these toward your process

Kind regards,

Gerard Heerkens

are you following a CanadaGap type program or a food processing program?  I'm farm to fork here....farm is CanadaGap and processing is SQF. No such requirement for the farm GFSI

Thank you all for your help :happydance:   

I am conducting a USDA Harmonized GAP Plus + Audit on my farm and one of the questions dealt with measureable objectives.  It is a commodity based audit that incorporates risk assessments into a food safety plan. Such as land use, water, animal, crop production areas, food defense and food fraud. Preventative measures and corrective actions are then implemented to try and reduce or prevent a risk from occurring.    

It makes sense to incorporate employee hygiene-training and probably chemical applications with appropriate training to be considered as a measureable objective.  

​So taking a test after training... is used as a measure to indicate the effectiveness of the training.  Correct?

Also, would maintaining an chemical Applicator's license be considered a measureable objective?

Yes, getting to getting the chemical applicators license (its mandatory here they won't even sell the good stuff without one) 

Yes to a test OR observe and interview employees and record that info--but a test is probably easier

I just had a quick peek at the standard and i see the verbage you mean. Another measurable objective could be in field process'......i.e. if you use knives in the field for trimming etc....that there is a chlorine dip process in place so "pathogens" are not spread from plant to plant

Thanks for the heads up.....that means it will probably be in place for me next year

oh, and maybe micro testing on the water used, not just for the processing, but irrigation as well if that applies to you

These are all great ideas!!  Thank you for the guidance!!