Administrative Order No. 05 series of 2022. Food Safety Guidelines Document for Urban and Peri-Urban Farms/Gardens.

This Order provides for assessing the identified site to comply with food safety requirements and to monitoring possible hazards present in the chosen field or area to be utilised for urban farming. The object of this Order is to ensure food safety and encourage farm owners/workers to have their food safety plan and help them identify possible food safety hazards and minimise the risk of contamination at the urban farms. The Order verifies recommended food safety practices prior to planting, during production stage and harvest, post-harvest processing and storage and in the course of transportation. The Order further provides for analysis of the harvested products that can be done randomly. Soil and water tests should also be done prior to planting and during the production. The farmers/growers could create their own food safety program in order to minimise the possible hazards. Quarterly and semestral evaluations shall be conducted in order to constantly monitor food safety and provide technical assistance to beneficiaries and partners. This Order consists of 4 Sections as follow: Introduction (1); Implementation Strategy (2); Monitoring and evaluation (3); Effective clause (4). The Order has one attachment on Sample Food Safety Plan.