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.
"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.
It’s important we keep an open mind to evolving employee expectations, consider the uniqueness of particular industries and positions, and remember both the pros and cons of traditional work environments.
While the produce industry is no doubt unique, there are powerful lessons that can be found by looking across sectors, particularly to industries that share a common charge: protecting consumer safety.
When Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine in 1953, he was feted in a New York ticker tape parade and hailed as the “great doctor-benefactor of his time.” Compare that to today.
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.
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.
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.
Last month the USDA issued a report on findings of a sampling assignment that tested raw agricultural commodity romaine lettuce at facilities and on farms in the Salinas and Yuma growing regions.
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.
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.
Let’s face it, Bill Marler has made a lot of money telling a story in which young children are the victims, lettuce farmers are the villains and he plays the hero.
While we’ve all felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in our homes and in our businesses, no industry has been more affected than the restaurant industry.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are visible everywhere — from shuttered restaurants and empty streets to vacant parks and playgrounds and piles of empty Amazon boxes out for curbside recycling.
While most of us are taking sanctuary in our homes, and likely grumbling about it, there are heroes across the food supply chain that are working hard to adapt and ease disruption.
The world as we know it has changed, perhaps indefinitely, as industries across the country and globe are coming to terms with the new realities born as a result of the coronavirus COVID-19.
Fourteen years after the spinach crisis, there is still a significant amount of work to be done to ensure the food we grow, process and bring to market is safe.
The recent death of Frieda Caplan reminds me of how much has changed in the 40-plus years I have worked in the produce. It too reminds me how much we all owe to Frieda for the business we love today.
There is a reason vegetables used to have a bad reputation, and, frankly it stems from bad preparation that often includes overcooking, poor seasoning and lack of creativity.
The foodservice marketplace today looks much different than it did in 1985, as waves of consolidation and acquisitions continue to hit the industry, providing both opportunity and new pressures on suppliers.
I remember sitting around the sales desk in the afternoon as we were reflecting on the day, and hearing “old-timers” talking about “how it used to be.” Now, I think I am one of them.
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.