New Alliance Formed for Produce Safety

A public-private organization will provide produce growers and packagers with fundamental, on-farm food safety knowledge, in advance of a proposed produce safety regulation, the FDA, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA/AMS), and Cornell University announced this week.

The new Produce Safety Alliance is a three-year, $1.15 million partnership funded by the FDA and USDA. It will be housed at Cornell University through a grant from AMS. Cornell’s national Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) program has been a leader in the development of materials on GAPs and in its dissemination of food safety knowledge to the agricultural community. Key elements of the alliance’s work include:

• Developing a standardized, but multi-formatted and multi-lingual education program on GAPs and co-management;
• Creating an information bank of up-to-date scientific and technical information related to on-farm and packinghouse produce safety, environmental co-management, and eventually the FDA’s proposed produce safety rule;
• Launching a website to make the alliance’s work and information readily accessible;
• Establishing a network of educational collaborators;
• Conducting an assessment of existing educational outreach tools to identify knowledge gaps and to provide for continuous updating;
• Working with partners on the steering committee and others to develop and deliver train-the-trainer materials and sessions.

In 2011, the FDA is expected to issue a proposed rule on the safe production, harvesting, and packing of produce. The alliance is aimed at giving produce growers and packers training and educational materials and opportunities to learn about current risk-and science-based best food safety practices, and future regulatory requirements.

In response to the announcement, the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA) voiced support for this new effort and its objectives.

“The objectives of this new initiative are in line with those of the LGMA,” said Jamie Strachan, a grower-shipper of leafy greens who chairs the LGMA Advisory Board. “We share a commitment with the Produce Safety Alliance to ensuring compliance with food safety practices on the farm and we believe this can best be accomplished through a strong collaboration between industry and government.”

“The LGMA program has been successfully implemented on California leafy greens farms for three years,” added Scott Horsfall, LGMA CEO. “During this time, the LGMA program has worked to provide regular and consistent audits of food safety practices on leafy greens farms. This has resulted in widespread compliance with accepted food safety practices and real penalties for those who fail to comply.”

“Since its inception in 2007, the California LGMA has become a model for food safety programs in other states and for other commodities,” stated Strachan. “Its existence proves that the challenges of implementing a comprehensive food safety system can be overcome. The LGMA is looking forward to sharing our experiences with other growers and shippers through the Produce Safety Alliance.”

The FDA and USDA will issue updates on the progress and activities of the Produce Safety Alliance in the coming months.

Sources: FDA, LGMA