BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – An Indiana orchard could be the first one in the state to legally use apples on the ground for human consumption.

Slaughter Orchard and Cidery has received just over $163,000 from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) to help their hard cider making plans become reality.

“These apples can be put to use for economic gain where otherwise they would have become waste,” said owner Clay Slaughter.

He and his wife, Tara, have a 30-acre orchard near Kokomo and a three-acre orchard and cidery outside Bloomington, where their operation is based.

Tara said a typical orchard has about 30 to 40 percent of its apple crop go to waste every year from falling off the trees.

Currently, the use of such fruit for human consumption is prohibited under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards because of the health risks posed from contact with the ground.

However, Tara said bacteria on ground apples is killed by the alcohol created during the fermenting of apple juice into hard cider. “You have to have some way to reduce those pathogens,” she said.

She said a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan has already been drafted and is awaiting final approval.

According to the FDA, a HACCP plan is a management system that addresses food safety through the analysis and control of biological, chemical and physical hazards from raw material production and consumption of the finished product.

Tara said the plan, among other things, points out that other countries like France, Spain and England already safely produce hard cider from ground apples because fermentation is proven to kill bacteria on the fruit.

The plan also specifies that ground apples will be placed into containers separate from picked apples to ensure no bacteria is transferred to the fruit picked from trees.

She said the first hard cider from ground apples will be made during the fall harvest and sent for analysis at Cornell University. If the outcome of the testing is positive as expected, she said hard cider for human consumption will be made and offered for sale at the cidery.

The results will be shared with the Cider Institute of North America and the American Cider Association. “We have to put our plan into action and prove we can do it,” she said.

Slaughter said hard cider from freshly picked apples started being made at the orchard two years ago but the ability to produce much more with ground apples should make a noticeable difference in their revenue stream.

She said the extra money anticipated will allow them to expand the orchard and, perhaps, begin selling hard cider at other commercial locations such as grocery stores.

“We’re pretty small so we got lots of room for growth,” she said.

Currently, Slaughter said most of the apples from both orchards are used for selling on site and for producing traditional sweet cider.

“In the fall season, we process about 1,200 gallons a week of sweet cider,” she said.

Part of the funds received by the Slaughters will be used to compensate them for their expense developing the HACCP plan.

Another percentage of the dollars will cover the cost of them demonstrating to orchards, cider mills, cideries and wholesale buyers that ground harvested apples can be safely and legally harvested, processed and fermented into hard cider, according to ISDA.

The remainder of the money is for demonstrating their HACCP plan for stakeholders during multiple field days hosted at their orchard and writing a position paper explaining how the process can be achieved safely and legally by others in the apple, cider and hard cider industries. The document will be published for easy access by interested parties.

Slaughter said she and her husband contacted many orchards in the state while filling out the application for the funds and not one was already engaged in the practice.

“We have not found anybody else in Indiana harvesting ground fruit,” she said.

Close to $300,000 was also awarded by ISDA for Purdue University to develop a technique to allow honey producers to ensure the quality of their honey products and create a produce food safety program for small fruit and vegetable growers in the state.

“These awards will go far in enhancing our Hoosier specialty crop industry,” said ISDA Director Don Lamb.