AGRICULTURE: Recommendations for Produce Auctions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ARTICLE UPDATED: 05/12/2020

Hygienic actions that reduce the risk of foodborne illness also reduce the risk for other viruses, including COVID-19. People do not contract COVID-19 from eating food. The largest risk comes from physical proximity to a person who has the virus. However, the latest research findings indicate that COVID-19 can last from several hours to several days in aerosols and on surfaces, including:

• Up to three hours in aerosols
• Up to four hours on copper
• Up to 24 hours on cardboard
• Up to two or three days on plastic and stainless steel

This suggests people may acquire COVID-19 through the air and after touching contaminated objects.

Purdue Extension recommends the following best practices and precautions for those hosting produce auctions:

• Do not allow anyone feeling ill, showing signs of illness or who has been in contact with someone sick / tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks to attend or work the event
• Discourage anyone who is aged 60+ and/or immunocompromised from attending or working
• Wear a cloth face covering per recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control
  • For a guide on how to create your own cloth face coverings,visit the CDC website
• Limit event attendance to the maximum allowed by current local, state and federal guidelines
• Maintain one single, staffed point of entry to ensure limitations on attendance
• Enforce social distancing guidelines of remaining at least 6 feet apart at all times
• Request that producers offload produce one hour prior to the auction and then leave the site
• Suspend any table-market option
• Avoid unnecessary handling of produce
• Split duties for payment and bagging between two different people
  • Alternately: Bag products first, then handle payment, and then wash or sanitize hands
• Undertake additional cleaning and sanitation protocols and recommendations, such as:
  • Regular cleaning of contact surfaces
  • Hand-washing or hand-sanitizer stations
  • Reminders on how to properly wash hands (i.e., thoroughly and for 20 seconds)
  • Encouragement of visitors to wash or sanitize their hands
• Communicate new and amended policies through entrance signage

The Office of Indiana State Chemist website offers a searchable list of EPA-registered disinfectant products for COVID-19. Consult this site to determine if disinfectants are safe and recommended for use in this environment.

Purdue Extension also recommends the following for those attending or working produce auctions:

• Do not attend or work the event if you feel ill, show signs of illness or have been in contact with someone sick / tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks
• Do not attend the event if you are 60 or older and/or immunocompromised
• Wear a cloth face covering per recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control
  • For a guide on how to create your own cloth face coverings, visit the CDC website
• Attend the event only if you intend to purchase produce
• Avoid unnecessary handling of produce
• Ensure that all hired drivers stay with their vehicles and do not enter the site

Wash your hands before entering the event, after handling produce and when you return home

Should you have any questions, please contact a representative from SafeProduceIN:

Amanda Deering, Clinical Associate Professor of Food Science at Purdue University and Purdue Extension Specialist: (765) 494-0512

Steve Engleking, Director of Purdue Extension – LaGrange County, (260) 499-6334

Scott Monroe, Purdue Extension Food Safety Educator, (812) 888-7401

Authors

Amanda Deering
Steve Engleking
Scott Monroe