During this unique time of COVID-19, people are naturally concerned about the quality of hygiene practices in every area of their lives—including the food they eat.
At The Chef’s Garden, our food safety programs are specifically designed to reduce the likelihood of microbial contamination at all levels of production, packaging, and shipping. More specifically, our practices:
- include 54 standard operating procedures (SOPs) for food safety that guide the growing practices of the farm
- also feature an additional 58 SOPs that guide our processing or packaging facility
- include PCR testing of the water used to wash produce, something that fewer than 1% of farms in the United States conducts
- include the cutting-edge Extreme Microbial Technologies air purification system that allows everything touched by air molecules in our packing/shipping area to be sanitized
- include three daily cleaning cycles; normally, we would clean and test at the end of each day, but now we do so at the start of the day, too, as well as at mid-day
These programs give daily guidance to our team to ensure we’re following best practices for the production, cleaning, and packaging of fresh vegetables—and they go well above and beyond what’s required in many crucial ways.
We take these rigorous measures very seriously every day, keenly aware of our levels of responsibility. Our partners consume our produce—our families, our friends, and you, our loyal customers. It’s in our best interest to help you maintain and improve your health by eating fresh vegetables grown, processed, packaged, and shipped safely and responsibly.
We work closely with the local health department (Erie County in Ohio), the State Department of Agriculture (ODA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as several third-party auditing agencies on an ongoing basis, to ensure strict adherence to our food safety practices and protocols.
You are welcome to visit the food safety section of our website. We are happy to share this information to maintain transparency and give you peace of mind that we take our commitment to food safety very seriously.
Food safety at The Chef’s Garden includes but is not limited to the following practices:
- Having a hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) plan in place
- Good agricultural practices for production in the greenhouse and field
- Good manufacturing practices for our processing facility
- Pre-harvest pathogen testing
- Post-harvest wash water testing on leafy greens and root crop products (PCR level testing)
- Extreme Microbial Technologies’ air purification
- Traceability program for all products, with full transparency from seed to delivery
Farm-Fresh Vegetable Boxes for Home Delivery
Here, you can choose from a list of carefully curated boxes containing the best of the day’s harvest, along with tips on preparing these vegetables for your family.
Thank you for trusting us to deliver fresh vegetables, herbs, microgreens, and edible flowers directly to your kitchen.