At Scott Farms, we realize that only sweet potatoes that are sage and healthy can be considered of the highest quality. Therefore, our mission is to fulfill the two-fold task of producing sweet potatoes that not only taste great, but that are safe to eat. Our family recognizes our responsibility to other families to do all we can to provide this assurance.
For these reasons, we have implemented food safety practices throughout our planting, harvesting, storage, and production operations, ensuring the safety and quality of our sweet potatoes at every step of the process. We adhere to strict standards of cleanliness, both for our buildings, and our equipment. In addition, all of our employees who work with the harvesting and processing of our products have been trained in food safety and worker hygiene principles.
As a result of our food safety programs, which are headed by our field and packinghouse quality assurance manager, Dewey Scott, we have successfully obtained certification under the USDA’s Good Agricultural and Good Handling Practices program. The program’s requirements are designed to minimize the risk of microbial contamination to fresh produce, and we are proud to say that we passed with flying colors.
We have also successfully achieved certification under the EUREPGAP program, which is a program created by member nations in Europe and that touches on similar food safety principles to prevent contamination. EUREPGAP certification also requires that farmers be good stewards of the land, which includes responsible use of pesticides and encouragement of animal and plant life surrounding our farm. It also means that safety in general is a priority in the workplace. To that end we have provided our staff with the training and tools necessary to do their job safely. We are equally as proud to have far exceeded the requirements asked of growers under this program as well.
As we look to the future, we are always mindful of the need to protect the food that we produce from harmful sources of contamination. Since the face of food safety continues to change, we have enlisted the help of GAP Audit Consulting, an independent food safety consulting company, to keep us abreast of better methods to keep our food safe, and to help us always be compliant with food safety requirements that our customers have come to expect.
