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New FDA Guidelines Prohibit Horses 

From Being Near Potato Fields

The United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has released its Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables.

State departments of agriculture, with the USDA’s assistance, are currently developing an audit-based program that is helping the U.S. produce industry verify voluntary adherence to that FDA guide.

Under the program, Federal-State Inspection Service (FSIS) personnel review a participating company’s facility and agronomic practices, along with its documented procedures, to help determine if “Good Agricultural Practices” and/ or “Good Handling Practices” are maintained.

The program seems to be spawned from the recent outbreaks of E. coli bacteria in some of our nation’s food suppliers’ produce fields.

The Guide is intended to “assist domestic and foreign growers, packers, and shippers of unprocessed or minimally processed (raw) fresh fruits and vegetables by increasing awareness of potential hazards and providing suggestions for practices to minimize these hazards.”

It covers agricultural and postharvest water uses, manure and biosolids, worker health and hygiene, field and facility sanitation, transportation and traceback.

While addressing common sense safe food handling practices recommended for the safe, efficient growing, harvesting and transporting of food, the Guide also seeks to have the farmer control some variables that may be out of his ability.

According to the Guide, domestic livestock, such as horses and cattle “should be excluded from fields and orchards during the growing and harvesting season.”

While the FDA acknowledges wild animals may be a bit more difficult to control, their Guide suggests the farmer “consider practices to deter or redirect wildlife to areas where crops are not destined for fresh produce markets.

The University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension Service (UMCES) has composed a policy in response to the FDA Guide that recommends to farmers that a “reasonable effort is made to keep livestock and wild animals farther than 200 feet from a water source used for irrigation,” and “The farming operation is such that wild or domestic animal entry into crop production areas is infrequent.”

The UMCES policy also recommends the “crop production area will be monitored for signs of the presence of wild or domestic animals,” and should it become necessary, “active measures to deter entry such a placement of animal repellant scents or similar act will be used near the points of wild or domestic entry but the repellants would not be in the production field.”

The program is currently voluntary with pressure being put on farmers by their vendors. “If a producer does not want to comply, the buyer may not purchase his product. If a producer does not want to go through the audit, they can sell their produce elsewhere,” said Dr. Steven Johnson, Ph.D., Crops Specialist and Extension Professor, University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Presque Isle.

Dr. Johnson says area farmers are keeping livestock away from the fields and irrigation water supplies by fencing them in so they don't escape. This may be a bit trickier for wild animals such as deer, moose and bear since a 200 foot buffer zone between all animals and fields and their irrigation water supplies is recommended by the FDA. Dr. Jones says of farmers in the area, there is “active participation with blood meal, flagging tape and scare crows” to help keep wild animals away.

Since the guidelines indicate a 200 foot buffer between animals and fields and their irrigation water supplies, trail riding of horses in the vicinity may also be affected by these new guidelines. “I have no idea where there are horse trails. If the animals stay on the trails and out of the fields, they should not be a major problem,” said Jones.

Jason Duncan is president of the Cowboy Heritage Trail Riders Club (CHTR) in Caribou, Maine and believes horses aren’t necessarily the problem the FDA is making them out to be. “The members of the Cowboy Heritage Trail Riders have enjoyed the privilege extended by many of Aroostook County's private landowners and farmers to ride some of the most beautiful country God has blessed us with,” said Duncan, “Many visitors who have joined us on County trail rides have expressed awe in the views, colors and shades of crops during the planting, growing and harvest seasons. With this privilege comes responsibility to be respectful of the property on which we ride, and to be good neighbors. These responsibilities also include doing our part to ensure that while enjoying horseback riding, we do not create a situation that would in any way jeopardize the landowner's/farmer's livelihood. We recognize that recent agricultural rules enacted for the purpose of protecting our nation's food supply involve accountability of the landowner/farmer to protect the fresh, unprocessed food crops. Since several members of the Cowboy Heritage Trail Riders are involved in the agricultural industry and/or are from Aroostook County farms/families, we are very understanding and sensitive to this issue and are committed to do our part to ensure the protection of these sensitive cropland areas."
“By being responsible horse owners, we trust we can enjoy the best of the County's countryside on horseback and the spirit and heritage of the American cowboy can be carried on for many years -and miles - to come.”

While the FDA suggests keeping horses away from crop fields, it ignores the fact that in the late 1800’s, horses were used extensively to harvest the potato crops in Maine with no known ill-effects.

The Cooperative Extension in Orono is part of the Land Grant System. It provides education on topics, including GAP. Implementation and inspection is performed by specifically trained Federal Inspection people.

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photo:

   Aroostook County, Maine potato farmers once harvested their crops with a team of horses. They didn’t have a government agency telling them horses were “dangerous” to the safety of their crops, yet generation after generation ate those potatoes with no known ill-effects.

photo/Maine and its Scenic Gems, ©1898 Geo. W. Morris, p. 180