Equipment, Machinery & Services

Your ‘Food Safety Risk Assessment’ needs to address the following:

Vehicles & Equipment:

Any vehicle and equipment that you use on orchard for loading, transport or storage of harvested kiwifruit, or any other use that comes in contact with fruit must:

• be in good condition and safe for use.

• be clean to prevent contamination.

• have a current Warrant of Fitness.

• have records for any maintenance carried out on application equipment and annual calibration.

  • The person calibrating equipment must be able to demonstrate that they are competent to do so.

Equipment, tools and devices:

• are fit for purpose and maintained, with all maintenance records kept for all machinery used on orchard.

• are clean and sanitised before use.

• are stored in such a way as to prevent product contamination.

  • Only using food grade products (cleaners and sanitisers) and storing them in a way that does not risk contamination of kiwifruit.

• that are in contact with chemicals are handled, stored and washed separately from anything in contact with the kiwifruit.

• made of materials that are safe for contact with products (nontoxic) and designed and constructed to ensure that they can be cleaned, disinfected, and maintained to avoid contamination.

• are calibrated at least annually.

  • Calibration shall be traceable to a national or international standard or method.

  • Equipment maintenance, calibration and repairs shall be documented.

  • Maintenance activities shall not present risks to food safety, the environment or workers.

PPP sprayers:

Calibration of PPP application machinery (automatic and nonautomatic) must be verified for correct operation within the last 12 months.

Verification needs to be certified or documented either by participation in an official scheme (where it exists) or by having been carried out by a person who can demonstrate their competency.

Fertigation equipment:

At a minimum, annual maintenance records shall be kept for all methods of fertigation machinery/techniques used.

Containers:

• Are cleaned, maintained and appropriate for use.

• Are constructed to facilitate cleaning and maintenance.

• Are cleaned before use if they are reusable.

• Are cleaned in accordance with the procedures and frequency in the food safety risk assessment

• Are used exclusively for kiwifruit for harvest. 

Services:

• Are considered in your food and safety risk assessment, identifying how you will control any food safety risk associated with suppliers, inputs or services.

• Ensuring service providers are only using chemicals used on the MPI approved compounds list.

NOTE:

For more details, including all principles and criteria, please refer to the “Am I Ready?” checklist.