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| Title: | Making a real difference |
| Category: | SPROUTING ANEW |
| Date Added: | 2009-09-08 |
| Author: | Denton Hoffman |
| Article: | As you journey through life you meet the occasional person who makes a real difference. Dr. Douglas Powell is one of those – to say the least. Doug called me recently to talk about the early years. He was new in the On Farm Food Safety (OFFS) business when I was working with the Ontario Greenhouse vegetable group. Doug was at the University of Guelph and I would talk to him about the phone call I didn’t want to get. This would be the imaginary call from a senior’s residence wondering why all the occupants were very sick after consuming a fresh salad, and if the cause may have been the greenhouse tomatoes. I never got that call - thank God - but I wanted to be ready. And that readiness included a strong response indicating we had an On Farm Food Safety program and proof we were capable of tracing our greenhouse product. We’ve seen several incidences in the past few years with certain fresh veggies and berries that almost ruined the industry and certainly crippled those markets for a year or so. From the University of Guelph and the beginning of the On Farm Food Safety program, Doug has moved to Kansas State University where he is associate professor of food safety. He is still very much in the industry – just relocated to a different university -- and still writing newsletters, hence the reputation of “the guru” of On Farm Food Safety. Doug has remained a good friend over all these years. We developed a bond as we developed an On Farm Food Safety program for greenhouse vegetables and more. Doug’s philosophy was to keep it simple. He could relate to growers, and had an uncanny ability to make the complicated science of bacterial contamination simple and understandable. Early on, he received a little help from Dr. Gord Surgeoner. These were the seeds of the On Farm Food Safety program in Canada, spreading from Ontario Greenhouse to Canadian Horticultural Council and to most vegetable growers across Canada. I can still see Doug in an old T-shirt and jeans, holes in both, and running shoes - that was his fashion statement. Of course, his description of toilet paper “slippage” resulting in fecal contamination on your finger was priceless, but his crude description helped to break down the mystery of bacterial contamination by food handlers with dirty hands. Seems to me I got a T-shirt from Doug with “Don’t Eat Poop” written on the front. Doug continues to be a great communicator, a fair goalie, poor at politics but great at On Farm Food Safety and raising little girls. Thanks, Doug. I am proud to say I knew you back when. Oh yes, I’ve had several complaints about the sudden demise of the OMAF-FST program. We love the program, but a lot of growers were unable to participate because the funds are gone, and applications will not be held until the program is reintroduced in the future. Unconfirmed sources tell us they will re-introduce something prior to April 1, 2010. I’m still recovering from the shock of the introduction of the program during asparagus harvesting. Maybe next year we can start in the winter, when growers have a little more time to consider the basis of OFFS and traceability, and are not involved in spring planting. Now where is Doug when we need him?? |
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