CA spinach and lettuce industry volunteers itself for regulatory oversight
Worried about flagging consumer confidence, the Western Growers Association asks state health officials to pass tougher food safety rules; proposed penalties could include injunctions against sale and criminal prosecution
It is not often that American industry volunteers itself for tighter regulatory oversight, but that is exactly what the Irvine, California-based Western Growers Association (WGA) has done. Responding to ongoing concerns about E. coli and salmonella poisoning in the nation’s vegatable supply, the WGA this week proposed stricter mandatory food safety standards for California lettuce and spinach producers. The idea is to restore public confidence and, though no industry representative would dare admit it, head off tougher regulations.
The new proposal asks the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to impose toughter oversight of water and soil testing, worker sanitation and “everything that is done in the field before [produce] gets to the plant,” as the group’s president, Thomas Nassif, put it. The CFDA would also have the authority to sanction growers who don’t follow food safety procedures. Punishments could include injunctions preventing shipment and sale, fines, and criminal penalties.
WGA hopes to have a standard agreement among produce buyers, transporters and processors worked out by January, and the standards with which growers would have to comply by March. Farmers, processors, and retailers would be assessed a fee to pay for the inspections. The standards would at first appply only to the lettuce and spinach industry, but the WGA intends to create a intra-industry regime in the near future.
-read more in this AP report
