Despite the portrayal in a recent Netflix documentary, leafy greens producers have made great strides in food safety — and are committed to further progress, says California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement CEO Tim York.
“While innovation and new technology should be supported, we also need to be mindful of individuals and companies that may overpromise and underdeliver,” says columnist Tim York, CEO of the California LGMA.
Updating LGMA’s required food safety practices is an involved process that seeks input from scientists, food safety experts and the public. No other entity is capable of making widespread change as quickly as we can.
A recent Wall Street Journal article titled The Airline Safety Revolution caught my eye and should be required reading for the leafy greens industry and our food safety regulators.
At its last meeting, the LGMA board voted unanimously to require its members to conduct preharvest testing of product grown in fields where elevated risk factors may be present.
Our values guide us in good times and bad, and a clearly defined organizational purpose will articulate the benefits of our organizations to our employees, customers and society as a whole.
One failure, one company or one person can have significant (negative) impact across an entire industry. Each of us has a responsibility to ensure safe food. And this responsibility can have far-reaching consequences.
“Every person connected to the fresh fruit and vegetable industry should be a champion for eating more produce,” says columnist Tim York, CEO of the California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement.
Definitions of sustainability are in no short order, and while there is not a universal definition, many in agriculture see sustainability as achieving triple bottom line benefits to people, planet and profit.
