US: California agriculture agency OKs voluntary inspections for lettuce, spinach

California lettuce and spinach processors can move forward with a voluntary inspection program they hope will prevent a repeat of the E. coli outbreaks that killed three people and sickened nearly 200 others across the country last year.

<<<An outbreak of E. Coli in 2006 was traced to spinach farms in California.


The state Department of Food and Agriculture approved the plan after 24 handlers that wash, package and ship about 70 per cent of the leafy greens processed in the state agreed to take part. The program allows participants to put a food safety seal of approval on their products.

“We have enough participation where the agreement will accomplish what it set out to accomplish,” said Dave Kranz, an Agriculture Department spokesman.

The plan creates a marketing agreement among produce shippers and handlers. They agree to buy only from growers who can show they protected crops against E. coli and other contamination by building fences to keep stray animals away from crops and routinely testing irrigation water for bacteria, among other measures.

Industry groups such as the California Farm Bureau and the Produce Marketing Association now plan to come up with the detailed guidelines participating companies must follow. A board appointed by the state’s agriculture secretary would be responsible for overseeing inspections of participating processing plants.

California agriculture, which produces about three-quarters of U.S. lettuce and spinach, took a huge financial hit from the recent E. coli outbreaks.

Investigators linked a strain of E. coli that killed three people and sickened more than 200 others in September to wild pigs that may have spread the bacteria in a Salinas Valley spinach field. Spinach was pulled from grocery shelves as authorities investigated the source of the problem.

U.S. officials said lettuce grown in the Central Valley was the likely source of an E. coli outbreak in December that sickened about 80 customers at Taco John’s restaurants in Minnesota and Iowa. The source of lettuce blamed for 70 cases linked to Taco Bell restaurants on the East Coast remained unknown.

Source: canada.com