Designing a comprehensive agricultural water testing laboratory database for growers in the state of Texas

Abstract

The overarching goal of this study was to design a comprehensive and accessible database of agricultural water testing laboratories located in Texas that can help growers comply with FSMA's Produce Safety Rule agricultural water requirements. The database was designed to include the laboratory name, location, specific water testing abilities, website, contact information, and days of the week when the laboratory was accessible to growers. Data were recorded from 72 laboratories in Texas. Following this, a focus group was conducted with eighteen growers in a statewide produce conference to evaluate the efficacy of this resource. The respondents were provided with a brief description of the project and asked 10 open-ended questions. The responses were collected and analyzed. The focus group data demonstrated that 94% of participants found that the database contained information that would be useful, usable, and beneficial to them. Only 25% of the participants claimed to be familiar with water testing and had limited prior knowledge regarding where to test agricultural water. Increased outreach is critical to ensure that growers are aware of agricultural testing requirements and have an effective support system to find laboratories close to their farms.

Keywords

• Agricultural water database
• Food safety modernization act
• Produce safety rule
• Qualitative data
• Escherichia coli
• Microbial water quality profile