Mission: Sanitation
Sanitation is the name of the game in the Eastfields facilities. While the operation, situated 30 minutes from the Shanghai Pudong International airport, is in a region of China that is not endemic to Ralstonia, Eastfields managers are not taking chances with any disease or pest. The only way in or out of the production facilities is by first changing into knee-high rubber boots, laboratory coats and rubber gloves, then walking through militia-guarded double door entries with footbaths at the entrance and exit of each range and greenhouse. Hand-washing stations are both inside and outside each greenhouse and range. All materials enter and all cuttings exit through these double doors.
As in most offshore facilities, sanitation protocol is strictly enforced, though at Eastfields, sanitation is not only a practice, it seems to be a culture. Between plants, hands are disinfected and knives are changed and sterilized in solution. During the harvesting process, each bag of cuttings is barcoded and traced back to the plant the cuttings were harvested from, the employee who harvested it and the quality control manager who approved it. Labels also include bench, greenhouse, variety and week. This will assure accountability in case of any disease issues.
Before entering the Elite areas, employees must change into clothes designated only for Elite houses, and change back after exiting. Workers first come to work in the Elite houses, then to the regular stock houses. They do not return to the Elite areas once they leave.
Greenhouse doors are wired with alarms in each section, so workers are reminded to close the door when they come in or go out.
In building up Elite stock of Americana geraniums for the 2005 seasons, Fischer imported cuttings from Goldsmith's Jalapa, Guatemala facilities. But first, each individual cutting was tested for Ralstonia in the United Kingdom laboratory of world-renowned Ralstonia expert Dr. John Elphinstone. Absolutely no trace of disease was found on any of them, Falkenstein says.
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