How safe is your salad?

How safe is your salad? Not safe enough for some, I'll wager. This conclusion is one I reach even before I start reading the article in The San Francisco Chronicle, posted by Luis of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group. As I read the article, I found it references both industry-instituted and buyer-initiated produce safety practices, and how those demands are opposed by some conservationists. From the story by Carl Nagin, a small excerpt:

Meanwhile, Western Growers' President Thomas A. Nassif has challenged a rival set of food safety standards developed by the Food Safety Leadership Council as "excessive and scientifically indefensible." The council includes representatives from such retail giants and food-service providers as McDonald's Corp., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Publix Super Markets and the Walt Disney World Co. In a November letter to Publix, Nassif warned that the council's standard "marks the beginning of a destructive food safety 'arms race' " with different produce buyers competing by claiming they have safer products than the next and imposing ever more stringent standards on growers. These so-called "super-metrics" are at the heart of the controversy for growers and conservationists. The USDA is now considering national regulations for leafy greens. In response, directors of EPA region 9 and two Regional Water Quality Boards wrote that any such regulation should focus on bagged "ready-to-eat" greens only and cited the FDA data on E. coli outbreaks. The letters also noted that despite acceptance of the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, many chain grocery stores have imposed their own food safety programs that go beyond it. As a consequence "farmers are being put in jeopardy for violating long-standing regulations that protect water quality and threatened and endangered species," wrote EPA Water Division director Alexis Strauss. Small farmers, Strauss added, have largely been left out of the discussion. Their "needs and circumstances must also be considered to avoid the damage of an irrelevant one-size-fits-all approach" to food safety. The EPA calls the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement standards an ideal starting point for a national program; it has also called for caps on what retailers can require of growers beyond the standards. For background on E. coli and up-to-date information on outbreaks: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov/ecoli .