NRA's intent

Donna Garren and the NRA have come out with a statement today about produce safety guidelines:


"The National Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation were pleased to host a farm-to-table produce safety conference in Monterey, California. Over 175 restaurant and produce industry professionals attended the two-day conference.
"The conference was a positive step for all companies involved in the farm-to-table continuum to develop and implement enhanced effective produce safety management programs.
"In the short term, the Association will support the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) metrics developed by the produce industry, and will support the California Produce Marketing Agreement. It is important to emphasize that our support and call for enhanced produce safety is broad and not limited to leafy greens or produce solely from California.
"In the long term, we will rapidly move forward to further define and assure implementation of scientifically sound food safety management practices along the produce supply chain.
"We commend the National Restaurant Association for leading the efforts to actively engage restaurants, produce organizations and their members to support a collaborative, comprehensive set of produce safety recommendations," said Dr. Jim Gorny, senior vice president of food safety and technology with United Fresh Produce Association.
"Food safety is a shared responsibility," said Garren. "The Association will continue to work with our partners in the produce industry to instill consumer confidence in produce items served in our nation’s restaurants."


TK: I have a call in to Donna about what this might mean.. Her statement that "In the long term, we will rapidly move forward to further define and assure implementation of scientifically sound food safety management practices along the produce supply chain" is vague enough but also seems to promise tougher standards in the future.