US: Western Growers applauds start of state food safety marketing agreement as final signers ensure full coverage

Final Major Handler Signs Agreement Ensuring California Leafy Greens Will Be Covered by New Enhanced Food Safety Procedures; National Restaurant Association Also Adopts Agreement's Food Safety Procedures

Western Growers officials today applauded the beginning of implementation of the California Marketing Agreement to enhance food safety in California's lettuce, spinach and leafy greens industry.

As implementation begins this week the final major handler in the state, Fresh Express, announced over the weekend it has also signed the historic Marketing Agreement for food safety. The addition of Fresh Express to the list of handlers guarantees that every major producer of spinach, lettuce and other leafy green commodities in the state will be covered by the new enhanced food safety procedures.

In addition, the National Restaurant Association announced Friday that it had endorsed the specific food safety procedures entailed in the Marketing Agreement's Good Agriculture Practices document. Those procedures were developed over the course of the past several months by Western Growers in conjunction with other trade associations, the California Farm Bureau and food safety experts at the University of California, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and others.

"This week marks the beginning of a fulfillment of a promise we made to the nation in the wake of the food safety crisis that started with the E. coli outbreak in spinach in September of last year," said Tom Nassif, President and CEO of Western Growers. "We promised to declare war on food borne illness at that time. This week the State of California will begin implementing the Marketing Agreement for food safety and will take a major step in our efforts to minimize the risks of food borne illnesses.

Our farmers and other professionals who grow and ship fresh produce have worked diligently to respond to this crisis with substantial and effective means to combat E. coli and other threats to our food supply. That work is only beginning, but this Marketing Agreement represents not only a fulfillment of our promise, but also a major milestone in the enhancement of food safety in the fresh produce industry. There is much work to be done, but we are confident we are on the right path."

The implementation of the Marketing Agreement for food safety will mark the first major response to the outbreak of E. coli in spinach that was announced by the FDA on September 14, 2006. The Marketing Agreement requires handlers of leafy green commodities such as spinach to accept product only from farmers who follow specific food safety procedures.

These procedures include testing soil and water, sanitation of tools, worker hygiene, washing of product and other specific regulations. The Marketing Agreement itself is a State of California regulation under the authority of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

"We believe this agreement can serve as a model for the nation in our quest to enhance the food safety standards in this country," said Nassif. "The events of last September were a watershed event for our industry. We are making every effort to enhance food safety in our industry.

This is an ongoing effort and while we are gratified to see the work to date come to fruition, we are not resting but continuing to work aggressively to proceed with the next steps in the food safety campaign. Much of the credit for implementation of this new initiative goes to the members of the California Marketing Agreement Board who have devoted not only their time and effort but also their resources to make this agreement a success."

Western Growers is an agriculture trade association whose members grow, pack and ship ninety percent of the fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in California and Arizona, about half of the nation's fresh produce.

Source: sev.prnewswire.com