Calif. Lawmaker Moves to Ensure Safety of Leafy Greens

A California state lawmaker is introducting an action plan to protect the safety of California-grown leafy greens following a series of deadly E. coli outbreaks that shook consumer confidence in greens and packaged salads.

State Sen. Dean Florez will introduce the California Produce Safety Action Plan on Thursday in Sacramento. The plan includes three measures which address food supply vulnerabilities, from water used to irrigate crops to the process for tracing the source of an outbreak.

"While these outbreaks may have dealt a temporary blow to consumer confidence, we have an opportunity here to take what we've learned from theexperience and create a food safety system that is second to none, just like California produce," Florez says.

The first measure Florez will introduce would give the California Department of Health Services (DHS) the authority it needs to effectively manage future outbreaks, such as allowing DHS to recall, quarantine or destroy tainted produce, Florez's office says.

Under the measure, growers of leafy greens would be required toget a license through DHS, just like processors do, and identify risk factors at their growing locations, such as proximity to wildlife that could track E. coli into crops. The bill also creates an inspection program, funded by licensing fees, which will send inspectors to farms to conduct testing of water, soil and produce.

The second bill calls on DHS to establish "good agricultural practices"which growers of leafy greens must follow, governing everything from waterand fertilizer use to issues of sanitation and flooding. The bill prohibitsthe use of creek water for irrigation or raw manure for fertilizer and requires that water used for growing leafy greens be tested every two weeks during the growing season and immediately prior to harvest, Florez says. Growers must maintain records of these practices, which must be reviewed prior to transporting the leafy greens, his office adds.

The third measure would require DHS to establish requirements for a traceback system, which will allow the speedy tracking of leafy greens fromfarm to retailer. An expedited traceback system would allow DHS to quickly trace contaminated greens to their precise source, preventing a repeat of September when all spinach was suspect and all growers took the hit because consumers did not know which produce they could trust, Florez's office says.

U.S. per capita consumption of fresh spinach, head lettuce and leaf lettuce totals 33.9 pounds annually, according to an estimate by the University of California. Fresh spinach sales totaled $157 million in 2005 and accounted for only seven percent of the $2.1 billion in sales of leafy greens, the estimate adds.

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Salad Maker To Pay For E. Coli Research

Fresh Express, a producer of value-added salads in North America, announced that it will provide up to $2 million to fund rigorous and multidisciplinary research to help the fresh-cut produce industry prevent contamination by the deadly Escherichia coli 0157:H7 pathogen, which has caused numerous outbreaks over the past decade, including the recent occurrence related to fresh spinach.

Although no Fresh Express product has ever been shown to have caused an outbreak offood-borne illness, the company is funding -- and, in a unique move, will share this research publicly -- in recognition of the benefits it may achieve for both the industry and consumers alike.

An independent scientific advisory panel comprised of six nationally recognized food safety experts from both federal and state food safety-related agencies and academia has been meeting on a nonpaid, voluntary basis since May 2006 to develop the most productive research priorities related to the source, mode of action and life cycle of E. coli 0157:H7 and the pathogenic contamination of lettuce and leafy greens.

The panel is chaired by Dr. Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., M.P.H. and director ofthe Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota.

"We are hopeful that this research will yield new knowledge, practices and technologies that the entire fresh-cut produceindustry can use to provide consumers with ready-to-eat produce that is consistently safe and healthy," says Tanios Viviani, president of Fresh Express.

According to Osterholm, the group evaluated the existing body ofknowledge relating to E. coli 0157:H7 contamination in fresh produce and collaborated on the most critical research gaps in fresh produce contamination ranging from growing and harvesting to cooling, transporting, processing and packaging.

"We systematically used our individual areas of expertise to scrutinize the entire supply chain and ultimately uncover the areas where we collectively agreed more research was necessary," says Osterholm. "From this process, the five critical research priorities began to emerge fairly consistently."

The identified research priorities -- and those against which research proposals are being sought -- include:

* Determine the potential for Escherichia coli O157:H7 to be internalized into lettuce or spinach.

* Identify new mitigation strategies and technologies to reduce the potential for E. coli O157:H7 to contaminate leafy green produce.

* Conduct field studies to identify sources, vehicles and factors that affect the degree of contamination or extent of contamination of leafy green produce by E. coli O157:H7.

* Determine the ability of E. coli O157:H7 to multiply in the presence of normal background flora following the harvest of produce such as lettuce or spinach.

* Determine the ability of E. coli O157:H7 to survive composting processes.

Funding is available immediately, and all proposals will be reviewed against guidelines established independently by the scientific advisory panel, the company says. To ensure the highest degree of integrity and value to each phase ofthe research initiative, the panel is empowered, without restriction by Fresh Express, to review proposals, make funding decisions and monitor and disseminate research results, it adds.

Questions regarding proposal submission canbe addressed to Dr. Osterholm at 612-626-6770 or at mto@umn.edu.

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