MSU Extension Agrifood Safety

Morgan Anderson
Produce Safety Technician

June welcomes the beginning of farmers market season across Michigan. These markets are a wonderful opportunity to support local artisans, bread makers, canners, and most importantly farmers! While going to the market, it is important for both vendors and customers to be mindful of ways to keep produce safe for themselves and fellow community members.

Safety measures and policies put into place at the market depend on many factors including the location and type of vendors. Market managers can use these factors to take the necessary steps to cultivate a culture of food safety at their market. For example, one market manager in Ottawa County provides a kitchen and hands-free access to bathrooms for their vendors. This same market only has a few produce vendors, which makes it easy to ask the growers what support and needs they have of the market (and market manager). A manager in Kent County “shares a document highlighting food safety guidelines for various products being sold at the market and keeps an eye out to make sure these practices are being followed.”

At many markets there is signage around no pets or smoking allowed. This is also rooted in food safety concerns, as animals may use the restroom in any nook or cranny (like underneath vendors’ tables onto the produce!). Some vendors also have signs that direct customers to wash their produce before consumption.

Other market managers mentioned that they refer to the MI Farmers Market Association (MIFMA) guidelines. MIFMA takes their food safety resources directly from the MI Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) and applies them in a farmers market setting. Topics include safe food sampling, licensing, cooking demos, etc. Check out their resources here!

A common theme I heard from a variety of managers is that it is on each grower to ensure they are bringing safe food into the marketplace.

Some market managers help connect farms with their local Produce Safety Technicians to help growers figure out how produce safety looks like for their operation and their booth at the farmers market. Technicians can help vendors navigate practices like handwashing and keeping produce contact surfaces clean at their booths.

Additionally, growers who go through the Produce Safety Risk Assessment process can also receive marketing and logo usage to use on product packaging, signage at points of sale, brochures, and more. For example, a microgreen grower uses the MI On Farm Produce Safety Participating Farm logo on the back of their “How to harvest” instruction sheet (see image to the left).

Receiving an On-Farm Produce Safety certificate and Participating Farm logo is one strategy to “highlight participating vendors in posts on social media” and showcase overall food safety efforts, says a market manager from Kent County. Not only would the logo be a visual cue to customers that growers are taking steps to provide safe produce for communities, but it also creates conversation and educates customers.

Overall, utilizing the MI On-Farm Produce Safety Participating Farm logo increases visibility of produce safety efforts of the growers and the farmers markets, and brings awareness to the various facets of feeding our communities that marketplaces and farms must think about and keep track of! Contact your local Produce Safety Technician to figure out your next steps in receiving your certification.