Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator, food safety It is important to sanitize food contact surfaces on the farm to reduce the levels of disease - causing organisms, such as E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria that can be on surfaces and spread to our fresh vegetables. It can also help increase produce shelf life and reduce the spread of plant diseases around the farm. Here are some tips on sanitizing efficiently and effectively to keep your customers and product healthy. Why sanitize? Sanitizing reduces the contamination level on surfaces by killing microorganisms that cause disease. Sanitizers are most effective when surfaces are clean and free of soil and residues. So, make sure to clean surfaces before you sanitize! Here are the steps: remove visible soil, scrub with detergent and water, rinse again, and then sanitize the surface. The surface will not be totally free of microorganisms, but they will be greatly reduced. If don...