• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.275-283
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• 2017

We inspected contaminations of pesticides in the 3,313 crop samples grown under the standard of Korean Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) between 2014 to 2016 May. According to our inspection, violations by unregistered pesticide contaminations far outweighed those by exceeding maximum residue limits. Most of the crops contaminated with unregistered pesticides were minor vegetable crops, for which far less pesticide products are registered compared to cereal grains and fruits. And in our second study, the pesticide in the sprayer was removed 90% or more, but not totally by serial rinses. From this result, it is assumed that pesticide remained in the rinsed sprayer can be carried over to crops unintentionally. Our study shows that supplying pesticide products evenly to all kinds of crops and allowing unintentional carry-over of unregistered pesticides to a certain extent are solutions to revitalize depressed Korean Good Agricultural Practices.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1071-1076
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• 2012

As interest about safety of agricultural products has increased, attempts to establish food safety also have been actively made. One example is GAP(Good Agricultural Practices) information service. This service supplies the safe agricultural products to consumers by establishing the safety management system from their production to sale of the agricultural products. In this parer, the proposed system enables the users to easily use it by providing GAP information service and using RFID.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.414-419
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• 2016

The aims of this study were to investigate microbial contamination levels and to survey sanitation management between Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and non-GAP farms of lettuce and cucumber. The samples (lettuce, cucumber, soil, agricultural water, gloves, and packing plastic bag) were tested to analyze sanitary indicator bacteria (total aerobic bacteria, coliforms and Escherichia coli) and major pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus). In the lettuce farms, the contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria and coliforms in GAP farms were little lower than non-GAP farms or similar. Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus in soil and agricultural water of GAP farms were detected at higher levels than non-GAP farms in soil and agricultural water. In the case of cucumber farms, levels of total bacteria and Bacillus cereus in soil and total bacteria and coliform in gloves of GAP farms were higher than those of non-GAP farms, and other bacteria contamination levels in collected samples were similar. These results indicate that agricultural products produced from GAP farm still exhibited potential microbial risks. According to the field survey, a sanitation management in GAP farms was insufficient. These results could be useful as basic data to suggestion of plan for preventing microbial contamination and to improvement of GAP certification.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.210-214
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• 2009

This study identified microbial risk factors in agricultural products processing center (APC) through the microbial hazard analysis to introduce good agricultural practices (GAP) system in APCs. Samples were collected from surroundings (basket, tray loader, weighing cup, collector, box) and workers by swabbing (glove and cloth) and glove juice method (hand) to enumerate total bacteria, coliform, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella. The levels of total bacterial and coliform populations recovered from surroundings were 2.4-5.7 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ and 2.3-5.7 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ or hand for surroundings, and workers, respectively samples were 2.3-5.7 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ or hand. Escherichia coli populations were determined to be below detection limit. S. aureus and Salmonella populations recovered from surroundings were 3.0-4.4 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ and close to detection limit, respectively. Corresponding bacterial populations to worker's samples were 2.8-5.2 log CFU/100 $cm^2$ or hand (S. aureus) and below detection limit (Salmonella). Bacterial populations of APC certified facilities were similar (p${\geq}$0.05) with those of uncertified facilities. These results showed that this study should be useful in development of GAP models to improve microbial safety in APCs.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.220-226
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• 2007

For the analysis of hazard factors and the development of GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) Ginseng, 10 ginseng cultural farms wished certified GAP were selected at Geumsan-gun area, a representative site of ginseng cultivation in Korea. In order to verify the safety of GAP ginseng, possible contamination of pesticide and heavy metal residues, and microbial hazard were analyzed. Soil and water around ginseng cultivation field, and ginseng were investigated. Eighty-one pesticides including carbendazim were used as typical pesticide against plant pathogens and insect pests of ginseng plant and general crops. There was no excess the maximum residue limit (MRL) in residue figure of the soil. Including the residue figure of the arsenic (0.81 ml/kg) and 7 other heavy metals was also suitable to cultivate the ginseng plant. The irrigation water and dilution water for pesticide application were also safety level for GAP. Fresh ginsengs from the farms were sampled and investigated pesticide residues and contaminations of bacteria. Among 23 pesticides tested, we didn't detect any kinds of pesticide residues, but tolclofos-methyl was frequently found in the other ginseng field. On the investigation of microorganism hazards, 2 gram negative bacteria and 1 gram positive bacterium were found in the fresh ginseng. Number of total bacteria was $1.5{\times}10^3$ cfu/ml, which was less than the other agriculture products. At these results, 10 selected ginseng farms were good cultural places for GAP ginseng production and the ginseng cultured from Geumsan-gun area were a good safe far human.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.785-790
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hazards from onions and their cultivation areas. A total of 32 samples were collected from onion farms and tested for biological (sanitary indicators, and pathogenic bacteria and fungi) and chemical (heavy metals and pesticide residues) hazards. Aerobic bacteria and coliforms were detected at a level of 0.2-7.1 log CFU/g (or mL) in the soil and agricultural water, 1.6-3.6 log CFU/g on surface of the onion, 0.0-6.0 log CFU/hand (or $cm^2$) on the workers' hands, clothes, and gloves, and 4.7 log $CFU/cm^2$ on the onion bags. Fungi were detected at a level of 0.0-5.0 log CFU/g (or mL, hand, or 100 $cm^2$) in all the samples. Staphylococcus aureus was detected at a level of 1.2 log CFU/hand on the workers' hands, the detection level of Bacillus cereus was up to 4.8 log CFU/g in the soil. However, Escherichia coli (and in particular strain O157:H7), Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella spp. were not detected. Although heavy metals were detected in the environment (in soil and agricultural water) and pesticide residues were detected in onion, the levels were lower than the regulation limits.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.12-22
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• 2018

The US government has enacted the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011, which is being phased in and planned. The final Rules of Produce Safety focus on biological hazards related to agricultural production, harvesting, packaging and storage, which are being phased in since 2017 depending on farm scale. As a result of comparison with the Korean-GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards, it is difficult to compare the two standards to be compared with each other by 1:1. However, many of the Korean-GAP standards are similar to FSMA Produce Safety rules. However, the Korean-GAP standards can be judged differently according to the evaluator as a comprehensive standard, so the details of the standards need to be reinforced. In terms of the provisions, the Korean-GAP standards are the most appropriate for the safety of workers (FSMA Subpart D), followed by livestock and wild animals (FSMA Subpart I), buildings, equipment and tools (FSMA Subpart L) and harvesting activities (FSMA Sub-part K). However, there are some weaknesses in the field of agricultural water management (FSMA Subpart E) and farm manager's qualifications and training (FSMA Subpart C), and the response to the biological soil amendments of animal origin and human waste (FSMA Subpart F) is weak. The FSMA regulation is not a certification standard, but it is expected that the marbling effect, which is the standard laid down by the United States leading the world food safety standards, is expected to be considerable. Therefore, we hope that the review of the Korean-GAP standards will help improve the quality of agricultural products and expand our exports, since the standard for responding to microbiological safety emphasized in the FSMA regulations is the Korean-GAP standard.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.290-295
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• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate the quality of soil, irrigation water, and status of agrochemicals application in relation to good agriculture practices system in the major cultivation area of Disocorea batatas. The concentrations of heavy metals as Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn in soils and irrigation waters were lower than those of standard level for Environmental Conservation Act of Soil and Water in Korea. The dominant weed have been appeared Digitaria sanguinalis and Portulaca oleraceamite. The dominant insect pests and plant pathogens have been appeared aphid and anthracnose. Average yearly application of pesticide was 2 to 4 times for herbicide and 4 to 6 times for plant pathogens and insect pests. In order to safety production of medicinal crops could be achieved by proper cultivation management such as minimum application of agro-chemicals, effective use of by-product fertilizer, and technology development of organic farming.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.312-318
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• 2013

This study validated microbiological hazards of ginseng farms at the cultivation stage and suggested recommendations to develop a good agricultural practices (GAP) model. A total of 96 samples were collected from cultivation environments (soil, irrigation water, and atmosphere), plants (ginseng and its leaf), personnel hygiene (glove, cloth, and hand) of 3 ginseng farms (A, B, and C) and were tested to analyze sanitary indicator bacteria (aerobic plate count, coliforms and Escherichia coli), major foodborne pathogens (E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus cereus), and fungi. Total bacteria, coliform, and fungi in the 3 ginseng farms were detected at the level of 1.3~6.0, 0.1~5.0, and 0.4~4.9 v/g (or mL, hand, and $100cm^2$), respectively. Only irrigation water collected from one ginseng farm was confirmed to be E. coli positive. In case of pathogenic bacteria, B. cereus was detected at levels of 0.1~5.0 log CFU/g (or mL, hand, and $100cm^2$) in all samples, but other pathogen bacterias were not detected in any samples from all farms. Although E. coli were detected in irrigation water, the level of microbial for the three farms was lower than the regulation limit. According to the results, the ginsengs produced from the 3 farms were comparatively safe with respect to microbiological hazard. However, cross-contamination of bacteria from environments and workers to ginseng has been considered as potential risks. Therefore, to minimize microbial contamination in ginseng, GAP model should be applied for ensuring the safety of ginsengs.