Strategies for the safety management of fresh produce from farm to fork

Fresh produce such as berries or leafy greens have been linked to microbiological outbreaks in different parts of the world. For some of these outbreaks, contamination was traced back to inappropriate practices at farm level, highlighting the need for mitigation strategies in primary production. This review provides an overview of the main routes of microbial contamination at farm level, along with the elements to consider for risk mitigation/reduction and examples of mitigation strategies for some of these routes. Risk mitigation at primary processing is also discussed with the example of produce washing and the need for development of alternative (combined) technologies to improve produce safety. This review highlights the importance of an 'assessment-education-continuous improvement' process at each step of the fresh produce supply chain and the need for practical training material and assessment tools targeting each actor of this supply chain. It also emphasizes the importance of taking practices linked to new trends into consideration in this process to mitigate new risks accordingly.