Grocers enter produce-safety debate
The nation’s largest supermarket chains have given produce growers six weeks to establish new safety rules to prevent deadly E. coli outbreaks.
A consortium that includes the owners of the Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs grocery chains and Costco Wholesale Corp. says it is alarmed that another episode like the recent contamination of fresh spinach could hurt its members and their customers.
“We need a timeline to focus energy on taking action immediately,” said Ron Anderson, vice president of produce for Vons owner Safeway Inc. “Obviously there is a sense of urgency in the mind of the consumer.”
Nine E. coli outbreaks linked to lettuce or spinach have been traced to California since 1995. The latest one in September killed three people, sickened 200, shook consumer confidence and cost growers, shippers and retailers more than $100 million in lost business.
Specifically, the consortium wants growers to work with federal regulators, academia and industry research scientists to standardize food safety requirements.
And the group wants a process for updating the rules as more is learned about how diseases are spread from the farm to the dinner table, said Tim York, president of Markon Cooperative, a Salinas, Calif.-based buyer for food distributors.
The fresh produce industry must work quickly “to protect public health and work toward restoring consumer and buyer confidence in fresh produce,” the companies said in an Oct. 26 letter to the Produce Marketing Assn., United Fresh Produce Assn. and Western Growers.
“It is just flat out incumbent on us to get this right. Doing nothing is the wrong answer,” Frank Padilla, Costco’s chief produce buyer, said.
If the growers group fails to move forward with more stringent and enforceable farming practices, retailers and buyers might set up their own certification system, said York, who is heading the consortium.
Both growers and retailers say there is wide agreement that the industry needs better methods for establishing and enforcing food safety practices, though some question whether such a program can be in place by the Dec. 15 deadline set by the retailers and distributors.
“We can’t maintain the status quo,” said Kathy Means, vice president of government relations for Newark, Del.-based Produce Marketing Assn., a trade group of produce shippers, processors, distributors and other suppliers. “And we can’t have any more mistakes.”
An October survey of consumer attitudes by the association found that 22% of the respondents lacked confidence in the safety of all fresh produce products, not just spinach, Means said.
Currently, growers are using a hodgepodge of safety measures and procedures to raise their crops.
“Some are not following good practices,” Means said.
As the spinach crisis unfolded in September, the lack of reliable industry standards became apparent, York said.
“People do water testing but there is no specific rule to tell growers how often they should test water -- everyday, once a week or once a season,” York said.
Similarly, there is no hard and fast rule for what constitutes incompatible uses of adjacent farmland.
In the recent E. coli outbreak, investigators suspect wild pigs tracked manure from a nearby cattle ranch into Salinas Valley spinach fields. But the cause also might have been wind or waterborne.
York said some growers might keep a 100-yard border between the farms to prevent the risk of contamination from manure, but the standard might have to be larger or vary depending on what is being grown.
“There’s no good science that says what the separation should be,” York said.
The consortium is considering asking the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to step up farm oversight.
“If the regulation is based on good science, everyone would be on a level playing field and be forced to follow the same standards,” York said.
Growers first need to set in place standards for lettuce and leafy greens, but the consortium also set a Feb. 15 deadline for establishing a similar program for other produce.
The consortium includes the nation’s three largest grocery chains, Ralphs parent Kroger Co., Safeway and Supervalu Inc., as well a number of produce distributors, food service companies, restaurants and smaller supermarkets.
Western Growers, which represents 3,000 farmers in California and Arizona, is already working to create uniform farming standards in California, said Thomas Nassif, president of the Irvine-based trade group.
On Monday, Western Growers proposed stricter rules and enforcement procedures for water and soil testing, worker sanitation and other farm operations. The rules would be included in a legal contract, or marketing agreement, between processors and shippers and in a marketing order approved by lettuce and spinach growers.
“These would be mandatory guidelines and practices enforced by the California Department of Agriculture,” Nassif said.
The trade group also is proposing a federal marketing order to develop mandatory national spinach and leafy green food safety standards.
