How do I check a hydroponic farm’s food safety and sanitation records?
Ask to see the logs the farm keeps day to day: cleaning, water and nutrient checks, staff hygiene, pest control and pick-and-pack handling. Then look for gaps, corrections and any complaint or recall history. Records only help if they match what you see on the floor.
Ask the seller for a typical week of records and a bad one. Look at who signs them, whether entries are made at the time or filled in later, and whether problems are written down with what was done about them. A set of logs that is always perfect deserves a second look.
Walk the floor with the records in hand. Check that cleaning supplies, hand washing and tool storage match what the paperwork describes. Look at how water and nutrient solution are managed, how product moves from harvest to packing, and how it is labelled so a lot can be traced to a day and a bay. Ask the seller to trace a recent lot for you, both forward to customers and back to inputs.
Ask about complaints, returns and any recall or product pull, and how each was handled. Ask what customers, such as grocers or distributors, expect from the farm and whether any audits were done and what they found. Your lawyer can advise on what the seller should disclose to you. Plan for a food safety adviser to look at the system with you before closing. Ask who trains new hires on the routines and how that training is recorded.
Key takeaways
- Ask for a typical week of records and a bad one.
- Have the seller trace a recent lot forward and back.
- Ask how complaints and product pulls were handled.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Canadian Food Inspection AgencyGovernmentThe Food Safety Enhancement Program approach to a preventive control plan
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
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