Don't forget the truckers

They are much interested in food safety legislation recently introduced in California, as evidenced by this news update from Land Line online magazine. Most importantly, they are interested in getting paid.

The bills – introduced by state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter – would make the California Department of Health Services responsible for regulating all leafy green produce in the state, including the authority to “quarantine, recall or destroy infected produce.”
This could be extremely important to truckers – including a number of OOIDA members – who were left with few or no options for their potentially contaminated loads, during an E. coli outbreak that was traced back to California bagged spinach in September 2006.
Many of those truckers were stuck with the financial burden of disposing of the potentially contaminated produce, or weren’t paid for their rejected loads.
Joe Rajkovacz, regulatory affairs specialist for OOIDA, said food safety guidelines have traditionally excluded the transportation angle, and Florez’ request for public input about his bills gives OOIDA the opportunity to have trucking issues brought to the table.
“There needs to be in writing somewhere that the shippers should be held accountable and should pay a trucker’s shipping charges when a recall has been ordered,” Rajkovacz said. “Truckers should not be held financially responsible if they have to turn around with a load that has been recalled – they should be paid for their mileage.”
Rajkovacz said shippers should also be responsible for dumping costs when produce is recalled.