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State will audit, certify safety of leafy greens
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More from BusinessFRESNO (AP) — The bulk of the state's lettuce and spinach growers, shippers and processors starting Monday will submit to audits designed to assure customers their products are safe, agriculture officials said.
Ninety-nine percent of the leafy greens industry has signed up for the voluntary inspections as part of membership in a leafy greens marketing agreement, state Department of Food and Agriculture officials said. The agreement was drawn up by the salad greens industry in an effort to restore consumer confidence after last year's E. coli outbreak linked to fresh California spinach. The bacteria caused the deaths of three people and sickened about 200 others.
Federal officials warned U.S. consumers not to eat bagged or bunched spinach for two weeks in September, but did not find that growers or processors had deliberately skirted the law. Auditors will start visiting randomly selected leafy greens handlers Monday to check their compliance with new, stricter food safety rules, said Joseph Pezzini, chairman of the California Leafy Green Handler Marketing Board.
Companies that pass the audits can seal their produce with a food safety mark of approval to show they're committed to food safety, agriculture officials said.
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