Food Safety 101 - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-28T13:41:29Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/food-safety-101?feed=yes&xn_auth=noDrinking water standards for…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-09-29:4778851:Comment:3966892012-09-29T14:53:43.890ZChris Downshttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/ChrisDowns
<p>Drinking water standards for yourself and your food is important. I have been involved in research and development sine 1989. Have completed raw water characterics studies. One of the best items for your health, is being proactive with your water. </p>
<p>We plan on drinking the water from our aquaponics system. However, We will also have a simple 6 stage water filtration system including a UVLight. There is another organism called cyptosporidia that may need to be addressed depending…</p>
<p>Drinking water standards for yourself and your food is important. I have been involved in research and development sine 1989. Have completed raw water characterics studies. One of the best items for your health, is being proactive with your water. </p>
<p>We plan on drinking the water from our aquaponics system. However, We will also have a simple 6 stage water filtration system including a UVLight. There is another organism called cyptosporidia that may need to be addressed depending upon where you are located. RO is good by itself, but it is based upon efficiency and what the water pressure in to the membrane is. </p>
<p>Take a look at different manufactures for those filters and membranes. I work with three different manufacturers here in the US. </p>
<p>It is not only important to use good water for your drinking water, but also for brushing your teeth, washing your hands and most importantly washing your produce/Fruit and preparing it in clean water. Especially if you are in an area that the native people are not affected by living organisms that do not affect them, but that can make you sick.</p>
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<p>Remember, we need to be aware of our own bodily systems and what we can tolerate.</p>
<p><br/>Customer service by providing qood quality food and water is an important aspect of anyone who sell food to tourists and visitors to their area.</p>
<p>Looking forward to your success, and I hope that this will help someone to stay healthy and even increase their profits!</p>
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<p>Chris@hisfarm.org</p> I cringe every time I see som…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2012-09-11:4778851:Comment:3911032012-09-11T07:18:34.449ZCraig Mullinshttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/CraigMullins10
<p>I cringe every time I see someone post a video of them drinking water form their aquaponic system.</p>
<p>I cringe every time I see someone post a video of them drinking water form their aquaponic system.</p> Living here has thrashed my f…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-11:4778851:Comment:1780032011-08-11T14:26:31.877ZCarey Mahttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/CareyMa
<p>Living here has thrashed my former sterile hydroponic self into an absolute tizzy. I simply cannot believe how the locals survive. Six years now and every time I go out to eat I get the runs (sorry), but locals can eat anything and be just dandy. I guess they have, over the centuries, developed antidotes or tolerance. I honestly dare not (but still have to) eat at any restaurant less than four star, unless I inspect the kitchen and make friends with the chef and owner so I can bring my own…</p>
<p>Living here has thrashed my former sterile hydroponic self into an absolute tizzy. I simply cannot believe how the locals survive. Six years now and every time I go out to eat I get the runs (sorry), but locals can eat anything and be just dandy. I guess they have, over the centuries, developed antidotes or tolerance. I honestly dare not (but still have to) eat at any restaurant less than four star, unless I inspect the kitchen and make friends with the chef and owner so I can bring my own veggies, and meat.</p>
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<p>As for water...well, thank goodness we have technology as in RO filters, otherwise....</p>
<p>Cheers buddy</p> I don't think people will be…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-11:4778851:Comment:1775362011-08-11T09:04:18.690ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
I don't think people will be offended by your caution Rachel. With increasing world populations, "natural" water is scarce (water that has not been impacted on by human activity) and the mis-use of chemicals, either in agriculture, industry or medicine means that there are a lot of nasties around in our water. As an ex-Nature Conservator here in South Africa, I recall walking into the mountains for a 60 mile patrol with half a gallon of water on me, expecting to find the rest in the…
I don't think people will be offended by your caution Rachel. With increasing world populations, "natural" water is scarce (water that has not been impacted on by human activity) and the mis-use of chemicals, either in agriculture, industry or medicine means that there are a lot of nasties around in our water. As an ex-Nature Conservator here in South Africa, I recall walking into the mountains for a 60 mile patrol with half a gallon of water on me, expecting to find the rest in the mountains. The only rule really was "do not drink it if it is stationary or if it pongs". We can still drink water from our mountains in undeveloped areas, and typically hiking trails bargain on the fact that this would be possible. Elsewhere, the picture is different I know. My home system outside also attracts rats that try to eat the passion fruit. I have dogs and cats thus do not want to put poison out. Eveything just gets washed properly.<br/><br/><cite>Raychel A Watkins said:</cite> This subject has been botheri…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-08-11:4778851:Comment:1772682011-08-11T08:26:55.905ZRaychel A Watkinshttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/RaychelAWatkins
<p>This subject has been bothering me ever since I read that Gina drank the water from her system. Everyone needs to go back to the days when you thought organic meant that your food was safe from everything. I think we now know that is not true. The organic farming products have proven to contain disease causing bacteria of the worst kind. But we aquapons say fish are cold blooded and don't carry <span style="text-decoration: underline;">E</span>.…</p>
<p>This subject has been bothering me ever since I read that Gina drank the water from her system. Everyone needs to go back to the days when you thought organic meant that your food was safe from everything. I think we now know that is not true. The organic farming products have proven to contain disease causing bacteria of the worst kind. But we aquapons say fish are cold blooded and don't carry <span style="text-decoration: underline;">E</span>. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">coli</span>. This statement is true but this is not the only organism that is a danger. How about <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Salmonella</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Shigella</span>, Hepatitis A, and rat lung worm to name a few. We who have outside systems are especially vulnerable. I have a problem with ground snail, birds overhead, rats that fall into the system trying to get a drink, toads getting into my troughs on the ground, the herons that sit on the edge of my fish tanks watching the fish, and first and foremost the people who work with me. How good is their hygiene? Most of the bacteria I mentioned are spread by humans and their bad habits. Have you ever looked at your water under a microscope. Let me tell you it would scare you to death and these critters would not even be harmful. Have you ever plated out your water on media to prove there are no bad bacteria. I doubt that any of us have. I plan to soon just to see what might be there. I have access to a clinical lab and the media to do this. I can't take it all the way unless I want to pay for it.. But I can tell a lot of organisms without to much fancy media. </p>
<p>The quote I wrote on June 22 was about some super bugs that are in Europe and they have the ability to become resistant to ALL antibiotics and to pass this on to other bugs. The situation is becoming very dangerous in the world of microbiology as far as human disease organisms are concerned. TC Lynx said something about drinking out of streams. Has anyone ever hear of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Giardia</span> or <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Cryptosporidium</span>. Do you remember a few years ago when <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Cryptosporidium</span> got in the water system I think in one of the midwest states and made a lot of people ill. If we were to drink the water from our streams here in Hawaii we run the risk of catching a serious disease caused by an organism in the water. I can't remember the name at the moment. It is Leptospirosis. Our canal waters have flesh eating bacteria in them.</p>
<p>None of this is meant to scare you but just to say that because something is clear it is not necessarily safe to drink. Maybe your water is pure but to actually promote that aquaponic water is pure is really pushing it. We need to practice food safety and if we don't the Gov is already making laws that will put us out of business because of the cost we will incur. The legislature just passed a bill here that would have put a end to small farmers. Because we rose up and protested to the Gov He vetoed it but there is next year and it will come eventually.</p>
<p>Dan Brown started this discussion in the first place. I suggest that we all go back and see what he said. He is a Chef and he knows the importance of food safety. I worked microbiology for years and am still involved in it and know what the future is bringing. A word to the wise should be sufficient.</p>
<p>I have not written this to offend anyone or make fun of anyone but to ask you to use caution and not be so quick to drink the water.</p>
<p>Aloha Raychel</p> Raychel A Watkins said:
Savin…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-06-22:4778851:Comment:1359472011-06-22T04:18:53.205ZRaychel A Watkinshttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/RaychelAWatkins
<br></br><br></br><cite>Raychel A Watkins said:</cite>
<blockquote><div><span class="instruction">Saving…It bears repeating that infection-control guidelines are effective only when they are followed with scrupulous precision. Adherence to those well-established principles is documented to contain and prevent the spread of such infection as the resistant NDM-1, an organism capable of a proverbial death sentence.…</span></div>
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<br/><br/><cite>Raychel A Watkins said:</cite>
<blockquote><div><span class="instruction">Saving…It bears repeating that infection-control guidelines are effective only when they are followed with scrupulous precision. Adherence to those well-established principles is documented to contain and prevent the spread of such infection as the resistant NDM-1, an organism capable of a proverbial death sentence. <span style="font-family: 'Univers 47 CondensedLight', 'sans-serif'; letter-spacing: -0.1pt; font-size: 10pt;"> </span> <br/></span></div>
</blockquote> It bears repeating that infec…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-06-22:4778851:Comment:1359382011-06-22T03:34:19.860ZRaychel A Watkinshttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/RaychelAWatkins
<p>It bears repeating that infection-control guidelines are effective only when they are followed with scrupulous precision. Adherence to those well-established principles is documented to contain and prevent the spread of such infection as the resistant NDM-1, an organism capable of a proverbial death sentence.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Univers 47 CondensedLight', 'sans-serif'; letter-spacing: -0.1pt; font-size: 10pt;">This is a quote that I took from a Continuing Education article I…</span></p>
<p>It bears repeating that infection-control guidelines are effective only when they are followed with scrupulous precision. Adherence to those well-established principles is documented to contain and prevent the spread of such infection as the resistant NDM-1, an organism capable of a proverbial death sentence.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Univers 47 CondensedLight', 'sans-serif'; letter-spacing: -0.1pt; font-size: 10pt;">This is a quote that I took from a Continuing Education article I was just reading. I will add to this in a few minutes as I wrote a big dissertation and it didn't put it up here and I must go back to work</span></p> Thanks for your well-wishes.…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-06-14:4778851:Comment:1322252011-06-14T19:06:03.578ZSusanne Friendhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/SusanneFriend
Thanks for your well-wishes. Long story, far from complete, but bottom line is, we're out of Costco, until someone manages to convince Primus that fish poop is safe.
Thanks for your well-wishes. Long story, far from complete, but bottom line is, we're out of Costco, until someone manages to convince Primus that fish poop is safe. Aloha from Miami !
Hav…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-04-19:4778851:Comment:936252011-04-19T07:27:01.007ZPeterhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Peter152
<p> Aloha from Miami !</p>
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<p> Having in your area several aquaponic farms which are "Organic" for many years, like <a href="http://www.olomanagardens.com/">http://www.olomanagardens.com/</a></p>
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<p>looks like you are far ahead from Florida. </p>
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<p> Thank you for sharing and good luck on the inspection</p>
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<p> Peter</p>
<p> Aloha from Miami !</p>
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<p> Having in your area several aquaponic farms which are "Organic" for many years, like <a href="http://www.olomanagardens.com/">http://www.olomanagardens.com/</a></p>
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<p>looks like you are far ahead from Florida. </p>
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<p> Thank you for sharing and good luck on the inspection</p>
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<p> Peter</p> Aloha!
As far as I know, we a…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-04-17:4778851:Comment:912382011-04-17T04:01:16.907ZSusanne Friendhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/SusanneFriend
<p>Aloha!</p>
<p>As far as I know, we are the first and only aquaponics facility to obtain Food Safety Certification for Good Agricultural Practices, in 2009. (If any one else knows of any one else who has accomplished this, please let me know!)</p>
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<p>We are going through HACCP certification now. Primus Labs has agreed to develop a template for aquaponics, with us as their partner (read "guinea pig" in this process). They want independent, peer-reviewed studies that prove aquaponics…</p>
<p>Aloha!</p>
<p>As far as I know, we are the first and only aquaponics facility to obtain Food Safety Certification for Good Agricultural Practices, in 2009. (If any one else knows of any one else who has accomplished this, please let me know!)</p>
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<p>We are going through HACCP certification now. Primus Labs has agreed to develop a template for aquaponics, with us as their partner (read "guinea pig" in this process). They want independent, peer-reviewed studies that prove aquaponics is safe (i.e., nothing pathogenic crossed the cell wall of the produce from the fish waste, etc.)</p>
<p>I know Nick Savidov conducted a test that ran for several years, but as far as I know, he never published the data, and I have so far been unsuccessful in getting him to return my emails and phone messages (I have been trying since November, 2010). I also have a paper entitled "Food Safety and Aquaponics", by Gordon Chalmers, DVM, but it does not contain the kind of thrid-party peer reviewed results that Primus is looking for. ANYONE who knows of any papers that have been published along these lines, PLEASE let me know.</p>
<p>I will let you know how our re-inspection goes. It's yet to be scheduled, but it's the biggest item on my agenda, and I think we'll be ready for it in within 30 days.</p>