Hamilton Karin E, Umber Jamie, Hultberg Annalisa, Tong Cindy, Schermann Michele, Diez-Gonzalez Francisco, Bender Jeff B
1 Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, University of Minnesota , St. Paul, Minnesota.
Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2015 Feb;12(2):145-50. doi: 10.1089/fpd.2014.1817. Epub 2015 Jan 7.
The United States Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture jointly published the "Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables," which is used as a basis for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) audits. To understand barriers to incorporation of GAP by Minnesota vegetable farmers, a mail survey completed in 2008 was validated with visits to a subset of the farms. This was done to determine the extent to which actual practices matched perceived practices. Two hundred forty-six producers completed the mail survey, and 27 participated in the on-farm survey. Over 75% of the on-farm survey respondents produced vegetables on 10 acres or less and had 10 or fewer employees. Of 14 questions, excellent agreement between on-farm interviews and mail survey responses was observed on two questions, four questions had poor or slight agreement, and eight questions had no agreement. Ninety-two percent of respondents by mail said "they took measures to keep animals and pests out of packing and storage buildings." However, with the on-site visit only 45% met this requirement. Similarly, 81% of respondents by mail said "measures were taken to reduce the risk of wild and/or domestic animals entering into fruit and vegetable growing areas." With direct observation, 70% of farms actually had taken measures to keep animals out of the growing areas. Additional, on-farm assessments were done regarding employee hygiene, training, presence of animals, water sources, and composting practices. This validation study demonstrated the challenge of creating nonleading and concise questions that are not open to broad interpretation from the respondents. If mail surveys are used to assess GAP, they should include open-ended questions and ranking systems to better assess farm practices. To provide the most accurate survey data for educational purposes or GAP audits, on-farm visits are recommended.
美国食品药品监督管理局和农业部联合发布了《新鲜水果和蔬菜微生物食品安全危害最小化指南》，该指南用作良好农业规范（GAP）审核的依据。为了解明尼苏达州菜农采用GAP的障碍，2008年完成的一项邮件调查通过对部分农场的实地走访进行了验证。这样做是为了确定实际做法与认知做法的匹配程度。246名生产者完成了邮件调查，27人参与了实地调查。超过75%的实地调查受访者种植蔬菜的面积在10英亩或以下，员工人数为10人或更少。在14个问题中，实地访谈与邮件调查回复在两个问题上达成了高度一致，4个问题的一致性较差或略有一致，8个问题没有达成一致。92%的邮件受访者表示“他们采取了措施防止动物和害虫进入包装和储存建筑”。然而，实地走访时只有45%的农场符合这一要求。同样，81%的邮件受访者表示“采取了措施降低野生动物和/或家畜进入果蔬种植区的风险”。通过直接观察，70%的农场实际上采取了措施防止动物进入种植区。此外，还对员工卫生、培训、动物存在情况、水源和堆肥做法进行了实地评估。这项验证研究表明，提出不会引导且简洁、不会让受访者产生宽泛解读的问题具有挑战性。如果使用邮件调查来评估GAP，应包括开放式问题和排名系统，以更好地评估农场做法。为了出于教育目的或GAP审核提供最准确的调查数据，建议进行实地走访。
