At barfblog we’re all about community-generated content. It’s fun when someone emails with a food safety-related story or a picture for us to share.  Today’s content comes from a colleague and avid barfblog groupie who was driving through southern Georgia this morning and snapped the picture at right.

The pictured sign is posted at the entrance of a pecan and peanut company’s roadside market/shop. All I know about this unidentified business is that it distributes stuff like raw, roasted and nut products all over the U.S. 

Sure, it’s a good idea to keep dogs out of the food area of a store, but suggesting to take a walk in the orchard, an equally important food area, is kind of weird.

To me, it seems like the producer should be thinking their orchard is a food area as well. Sure, it’s really tough to control birds, deer and feral pigs, but inviting dogs to take a dump in the orchard (something that is controllable) probably isn’t a good idea.  In the climate of uncertainty around the effectiveness of pathogen reduction strategies in the nut industry, it’s an especially bad idea.

Keep the dog poop out of the orchard.