 Today, as we think about our food system and the bounty of our food supply, one food group comes quickly to mind. Fruits and vegetables. In the past 20 years, there has been an increase in the variety of fruits and vegetables available in the marketplace and an increase in the consumption of these products. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet and research has shown that eating fruits and vegetables has a protective effect against certain types of cancers. Nutritionists from colleges and universities, government agencies, and industry have all suggested that people should increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables to at least five per day. Several government initiatives such as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, Healthy People 2010, the National Cancer Institute's five-a-day program, as well as many industry promotional campaigns strongly encourage consumers to increase their consumption of produce. Scientists have responded to these messages and have increased consumption of fruits and vegetables by 24 percent since 1970. Today, Americans eat about 711 pounds of produce per person each year. Fruits and vegetables are available all year long and include some products that have been pre-washed, fresh cut, and are ready to eat. Fresh cut produce popularized in the early 1980s provides convenience for busy consumers. With busier lifestyles and more and more two-income earner households, convenient pre-washed, ready-to-eat produce has been well received by consumers. The fresh cut industry produces more than 10 percent of all produce consumed each year and the quality and safety of these foods is very important. The fresh cut produce industry provides nutritionally important products. However, constant attention is required to ensure the safety of fresh products. Consider these recent estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year, tens of millions of foodborne illnesses occur in the United States, resulting in thousands of deaths. The economic burden from missed work and productivity due to foodborne illness is estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Over the last decade, produce has increasingly been linked to foodborne illnesses, especially those caused by bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli 0157H7, and Shigella. Proteins and other harmful bacteria can be destroyed by cooking at high temperature. However, since much of fresh cut produce is ready to eat and is consumed raw, consumers have little ability to protect themselves from foodborne illness, resulting from consumption of contaminated raw fresh cut produce. It's important therefore that the consumer be provided with the safest product possible. Produce related outbreaks likely have multiple causes. Foodborne is the emergence of new foodborne pathogens such as E. coli 0157H7, a bacterium normally found in the feces of healthy cattle and deer. Other factors that may contribute to the increase in foodborne illnesses are a lack of food safety training among growers, shippers, food processors and distributors, the increased quantity and variety of products offered, and a more centralized and global distribution system. Also, more Americans are becoming aware of the need for a balanced diet and are eating healthier foods, including fresh cut produce. Improvements in state and national disease surveillance systems and more sophisticated means of detecting microorganisms have resulted in an increased number of reports of produce related outbreaks. As an employee in a fresh cut produce facility, your job is vital in assuring that proper care is taken with the fruits and vegetables. What an employee does or doesn't do can affect the safety of the food. One careless act or inattention to detail may cause product contamination and lead to hundreds of illnesses, hospitalizations, millions of dollars in losses to the company and damage to the reputation of the product and company. The purpose of this video is to help fresh cut processors do an even better job of minimizing the microbial, chemical and physical hazards associated with fresh cut produce. It will show how processors are the vital link between good sanitation and safe food. This video is divided into six sections. These sections cover food safety in a facility from the time the raw ingredients arrive at the back door until the finished product leaves the loading dock. The first section discusses existing regulations, legal requirements and prerequisite programs. The second section covers employee hygiene and health. The third section makes recommendations about the optimum design of fresh cut facilities and how products and ingredients should move through the facility. The fourth section addresses receiving, storage, sorting, grading, cooling and transport of raw ingredients and finished products. The fifth section discusses food safety aspects of processing and packaging. The sixth section reviews basic cleaning and sanitation concepts within the facility.