Berry pickers train at 'tailgates'

By Lane Wallace
The Monterey County Herald

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WATSONVILLE — Strawberry pickers started the season with a tailgate event this year, but it wasn't a party.

Workers got "tailgate training," an in-the-field food safety program developed by the Strawberry Commission.

The workers were shown a series of pictures on a flip chart, showing them how to wash their hands and how to handle the fruit. It reminded them of things they shouldn't do, such as eat or drink while picking, which could transfer saliva to their hands.

They also were reminded that if there's an outbreak of food-borne illness traced to strawberries, "it will shut down the industry and you will have no work," said Carolyn O'Donnell, communications director for the Strawberry Commission in Watsonville.

The tailgate trainings began this year, part of a program that began in the late 1990s, when illnesses were traced to Guatemalan raspberries in 1996 and Mexican strawberries in 1997. The outbreaks "devastated the industry," O'Donnell said.

In 1998, the Strawberry Commission began its food safety program. Growers were following safe practices, O'Donnell said, but the program offered standardization.

The Strawberry Commission doesn't train workers, it offers seminars for supervisors on how to make the presentations.

The commission has trained 350 supervisors who will make presentations to 40,000 field workers, or from 40 percent to 50 percent of the berry workers in the state, O'Donnell said. The commission hopes to get all workers trained by next year.

Workers attend a 30-minute session at the beginning of the season, and five-to-10-minute reviews about once a week.

By including pictures, the training is "language neutral," O'Donnell said. Information is in Spanish and English, but there are pickers who speak neither, she said.