Maintaining “clean soil” reduces the risk of contaminating produce with illness-causing microorganisms found in soil during stages of growth and harvesting.
Illness-causing microbes always are present in the soil, but their populations and resulting risk of product contamination can be increased tremendously by improper manure management and application.
Although manure is a good form of fertilizer, all manure contains pathogens. Some pathogen levels in the soil will decrease over time due to competition from other bacteria in the soil or because of less-than-desirable conditions.
The following steps are recommended to minimize risks from manure.
Allow a minimum of 120 days between manure application and harvest.
Additionally, due to the fact that many contaminants can be spread through animal feces, specific steps must be followed to minimize the presence of animals, both domestic and wild, in production fields and packing areas.
