Soil Amendments

A soil amendment refers to any material added to the soil to improve its physical or chemical properties. With fresh fruits and vegetables, food safety concerns are most often associated with biological contamination by pathogens in manure-based soil amendments. However, chemical hazards associated withinorganic fertilizers can represent a chemical risk to crops as well as to those who apply the fertilizers. The University of Tennessee in conjunction with Cornell University and the University of Minnesota created decision trees to help growers assess the risks on their farm, as well as food safety template language, record-keeping logs and sample SOPs that you can download and tailor to your needs.