3 food safety tools that could level up the fresh produce supply chain

Across the entire supply chain, understanding the real-time food safety risk for a fresh produce product can be daunting. Assessing food safety, for many, means ensuring a series of precise, science-based tasks, procedures, processes, verifications and record-keeping that can’t be phoned in.

Added to this is the pressure that comes with knowing that just one outbreak has the potential to devastate a business and an entire commodity. The recent coverage in the Netflix documentary “Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food” further highlights the scrutiny that fresh fruits and vegetables — leafy greens in particular — are facing in the U.S.

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“The one thing I've learned the hard way, working in retail and at the FDA, is that oftentimes an entire commodity wins and loses together,” Frank Yiannas, a former FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response, recently told The Packer.

Faced with high stakes, how do growers, packers, shippers and retailers equip themselves to reduce risk, improve processes and embody best practices?

A handful of recent regulations and resources seek to do just that. These three new tools seek to raise the bar for all stakeholders so that the entire supply chain improves the way it delivers fresh, wholesome and safe fresh produce products to consumers.
 

1. FSMA rules level up requirements for high-risk foods

The latest Food Safety Modernization Act final rule calls for additional traceability records for specific foods the FDA has flagged as high risk. This additional due diligence has a compliance deadline looming on Jan. 20, 2026.

While that might sound far away, the steps needed to meet the new rule will be a heavy lift for many operations, requiring coordination and strategy to execute. It’s never too early to find out what one needs to do.  

First step, to discover what the FSMA traceability final rule means for an operation, first determine if it grows, buys, sells or transports any of the food products that the FDA has identified as needing additional traceability records.

According to the FDA, the list includes the following fresh produce products:

• Cucumbers.

• Herbs.

• Leafy greens (whole and fresh-cut).

• Melons.

• Peppers.

• Sprouts.

• Tomatoes.

• Tropical tree fruits such as mango, papaya, jackfruit, lychee, bananas, dates, figs, pineapple and others.

• Fresh cut fruits.

• Fresh cut vegetables.

Once you’ve identified which products in operation will be affected and require additional traceability, get ready to monitor critical tracking events. These events include activities such as harvest and cooling and packing, and according to the FDA, they must include key data elements.

Related news: FDA appoints EPA veteran to build new Human Foods Program

In addition to tracking the right information, a traceability plan that includes supply chain partners is another essential step to ensure compliance with this new regulation. The FDA has a resource page with exemptions and requirements to support operations of all sizes.
 

2. Leafy greens risk-assessment tool

Between Arizona and California, Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement members produce over 90% of the U.S.’s lettuce and leafy greens, totaling over 50 billion servings a year, according to the associations.

To support leafy greens and lettuce growers and shippers, the Arizona LMGA and California LGMA recently teamed up with Arizona State University to develop a new food safety tool.

It is a straightforward, but powerful excel spreadsheet that evaluates a grower’s crop production environment. This assessment looks at various risks both on the ranch that the farmer controls and on land adjacent to the crop production area, according to a news release.

“The LGMA has always required that its members conduct an environmental risk assessment, but this new tool incorporates the LGMA requirements and standardizes the way that each member addresses specific hazards,” Teressa Lopez, Arizona LGMA program administrator, said in the release. “After completing the assessment, the user will get a risk score and see what impact specific mitigation measures can have on safety of the crop.”

The adjacent land uses and hazards measured in the tool include:

• Animal operations.

• Compost/soil amendment operations.

• Non-leafy green crops.

• Water source and systems/

• Urban settings.

• Other environmental considerations.

After hazards and risk considerations are entered by the grower, the tool assigns a risk-result rating. From this data, the user will be able to enter farm-level mitigations to address potential hazards that can ultimately adjust the risk rating, according to the release.

Access the Environmental Risk Assessment tool on the California LGMA site.
 

3. Industrywide 'Romaine Test and Learn' study

Food safety extends beyond the farm gate. The data and experiences growers gain on their individual farms is now, thanks to the California LGMA and its industry partners, being aggregated to better understand the entire leafy-green sector's risks, outcomes and best practices.

The “Romaine Test and Learn” initiative is, according to the California LGMA, “an industrywide effort that collects, compiles and analyzes data, then utilizes the finding to inform future food safety practices that will improve the safety of leafy greens and prevent outbreaks.”

Related news: LGMA seeks to raise the food safety bar with industrywide romaine study

The study marks a shift away from reactive food safety approaches to proactive positioning, seeking to better understanding what is known, what is unknown and what patterns and trends are emerging from shared data and insights at the industrywide level.

To learn more about Romaine Test and Learn and to join the effort, read the California LGMA’s fact sheet on the initiative.