Those risks are greater than the threat to human health, he
says.
Yet people could be sickened by some of the bacteria he
found, such as E. coli.
More troubling is that the percentage of contaminated
containers has increased since he conducted his first survey and the industry
said it would step up measures to sanitize containers.
This new
study found some improvements, including fewer damaged containers, and found
that Ontario RPCs were cleaner than those in Quebec.
“However,
the same issue of labels from previous users and high microbial counts persists,”
the report says.
“Growers
could reject any crates at the point of delivery, but retailers need to do more
to ensure standards are being met. Retailers are the ones demanding crates be
used.”
