Group Seeks Strict Food Rules
By Nancy Luna, The Orange County Register, Calif.
Jan. 11–Farmers are expected to ask state officials Friday for something unusual in the world of business: More regulation.
The Western Growers Association, an Irvine-based trade group that represents California and Arizona farmers, is pushing state regulators to enforce mandatory food- safety guidelines for green, leafy produce.
The request, to be discussed at a state hearing in Monterey, is a response to bad publicity for farmers following a spate of high-profile E. coli outbreaks connected to green, leafy produce.
Under the plan, state agricultural officials would inspect all types of lettuce, arugula, cabbage and spinach. Produce would also would be certified with an “official mark” similar to a USDA label on meat, according to Western Growers.
“It will probably be the most stringent regulations in the state’s history,” said association spokesman Tim Chelling.
The safety procedures could be enforced by late spring or early summer, and is are expected to restore public confidence in the state’s food supply, said Chelling, whose group drafted the plan.
The industry has been rocked by food- borne illness outbreaks tied to California, including tainted lettuce served at East Coast locations of Irvine-based Taco Bell restaurants in the East Coast. The new procedures involve benchmarks for everything from soil testing to how often produce is washed along the food distribution chain.
Though current food- safety practices in the state are “gold standard,” Chelling said growers can do better under a uniform process.
“Let’s raise it to a platinum standard,” he said.
Sanctions, including fines, would apply to growers who repeatedly violate the rules.
The state’s Department of Food and Agriculture, which is sponsoring the hearing, would handle enforcement.
The cost to administer the program is unclear. Growers would be assessed fees, no greater than 5 cents a carton, to support the plan.
Western Growers is targeting green, leafy produce because those vegetables were tied to several food borne illnesses last year.
The key incident came when sSpinach linked to a Salinas grower killed three people and sickened more than 200 in the summer. That outbreak rocked hurt the industry after regulators temporarily shutdown the distribution of fresh-cut spinach.
In the fall, Western Growers sought damage control by proposing food- safety regulations. But before the group could devise a plan, the industry was hammered with the Taco Bell food scare.
In late November, about 71 people in five states reported getting ill after eating at Taco Bell restaurants. Of those, 52 had confirmed cases of E. coli, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak forced the Irvine chain to temporarily close dozens of restaurants.
The culprit turned out to be to be shredded lettuce, though initial tests released by Taco Bell had falsely pointed to green onions grown and supplied by two California-based companies: Boskovich Farms and Ready Pac.
Taco Bell, which switched lettuce suppliers in the East Coast, has refused to name the company that provided the lettuce to the affected restaurants.
Company spokesman Rob Poetsch said Wednesday that Taco Bell supports improved food- safety standards in the agricultural industry, and is working closely with its suppliers to ensure the chain receives “produce free of pathogens.” That doesn’t help Boskovich Farms.
“Taco Bell’s rush to judgment in publicly announcing that green onions had tested positive for E. coli” has sullied the farm’s image, the company said Wednesday.
“Both the company’s reputation and the Boskovich family name have suffered a significant blow,” stated Lindsay Martinez, the grower’s marketing director.
Poetsch said Taco Bell’s chief concern during the food scare was its customers, which is why it immediately removed green onions when it thought it was the source of the outbreak.
“We simply could not wait three to four days and risk public health, so we took action as a precautionary measure,” Poetsch said.
Boskovich, which also grows green leafy and romaine lettuce, said it supports Western’s proposal.
While the number of food- borne illnesses has declined over the past decade, industry experts say fresh produce continues to be a vulnerable product.
“If E. coli is present and the food is not cooked to kill the microorganism, then if you eat that food you will likely get sick,” said Kathleen D’Ovidio, a food science expert and professor at Delaware Valley College in Pennsylvania.
She said “chlorinated water washes” also don’t remove all strains of E. coli. Still, she emphasized that the country’s food supply is the safest in the world.
What happened last year “was very rare,” she said.
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