In the wake of recent outbreaks involving leafy greens and possibly linked to agricultural water, Bonduelle Fresh Americas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bonduelle, today initiated a plan with its growers to ensure the safety of its leafy greens supply through the 2019 California growing season, effective May 1, 2019.
"Safety has always been our highest priority and Bonduelle Fresh Americas continues to be committed to delivering the safe, fresh and healthy products our customers and consumers have come to expect from us," said Bonduelle Fresh Americas CEO Mary Thompson. "Since day one, we have been a part of the initiative to heighten agricultural water standards and truly believe it is critical to do so as soon as possible to protect our leafy greens supply from possible agricultural water contamination."
In preparation for the upcoming 2019 California growing season, Bonduelle Fresh Americas Food Safety Team conducted assessments of 100 percent of growing fields over the last several months, focused on water sources, distribution systems, irrigation methods, treatment methods and other important aspects of our growers' agricultural irrigation systems. With this knowledge, the company established its agricultural water management requirements for its growers which include:
Preseason Assessments: Treatment Requirement (Overhead Irrigation): For any open agricultural water systems (such as, surface water, water transported by canals or water held in irrigation reservoirs) we require our growers to treat the water during the last 21 days of the scheduled harvest to reduce the risk of pathogens.
Other Aerial Applications: For any other aerial applications, such as crop protection chemicals, we require our growers to either meet the microbial standards of drinking water or treat the water to reduce the risk of potential pathogens of all water sources.
For more information:
Bonduelle
www.bonduelle.com/en