Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/662797
18 APRIL 15, 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com measures biologic pollution in water that includes coli- form species usually associated with fecal polluted water, and generic Escherichia coli. Generic E. coli tests are an indicator for contamination due to enteric pathogens, or those pathogens that live in an animal's intestinal tract. Are preventive controls effective? All of the facilities had samples taken from dump tanks using either calcium hypochlorite (chlorine) or peracetic acid (PAA) to sanitize the water. The time between water cycles varied from one day to three days. The unwashed fruit came either from storage or directly from the orchard and, on one packing line, washed fruit came from storage to be rerun. The researchers collected samples over 180 operational hours at the five facilities over the course of two years — 368 total coliform tests and 74 generic E. coli tests. Among all those tests, 35 percent of the samples from PAA tanks were positive for total coli- form, and 17 percent were posi- tive for generic E. coli, the study showed. In addition, 60 samples — or 18 percent — were measured at PAA levels greater than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 80 parts per million limit for wash water, and 18 percent of these had levels greater than 100 parts per million. Overall, "We used microbial water testing data to establish how effective those preventive controls are during the course of normal packing operations. Overall, we're finding a mixed bag." —Diane Wetherington 360.333.4044 Casey Schoenberger Mount Vernon, WA Natural Fish Fertilizers for Organic Crop Production ORCHARDS VINEYARDS DRAMM Manitowoc, WI • U.S.A. www.FishFertilizer.com FRUIT Extremely high levels of available Calcium & Phosphorus