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After Last Year's E. Coli Outbreak, Produce Testing Diverged at Border
Canadian testing of American lettuce last month led to a recall in both countries.
(By Paul Sakuma -- Associated Press)
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The FDA says it has been working to address consumer concerns. A food safety plan, which will address the import and domestic market, has been fast-tracked and is to be published within three to four weeks, Acheson said. "We are addressing several years of challenges and changes. We're not going to be able to turn this around on a dime. We're not dealing with a static situation," he said in an interview. "I think we're in a better place than we were a year ago."
The most significant change in the United States since last year's outbreak is a voluntary program in California established by industry officials ahead of stricter standards proposed by the state legislature. Under the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, producers such as Dole agree to abide by certain agricultural practices, like keeping crops 200 feet from untreated manure. They also pay 2 cents a carton -- the equivalent of 24 pounds -- to fund auditing of their records and inspections of their fields. The group expects to collect about $4.5 billion this year but will not do sample testing of crops.
"We're still a brand new organization, we have really been working on getting the marketing agreement up and running," said Scott Horsfall, chief executive of the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.
The program has not been duplicated in other states, though Horsfall says Arizona and Florida are considering it, and remains voluntary, to the chagrin of consumer advocates.
"A voluntary program is a voluntary program. Nobody is requiring the industry to do anything," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "The bottom line is for the better companies, the ones that want to improve, there are more tools available. For companies that do not want to comply, nothing is requiring them to change a thing."
The program does not offer standards higher than what was acceptable within the industry before the outbreak, critics say.
"Nothing has changed. This is the same voluntary approach that has been the source of 21 outbreaks in California. I am not confident that without a mandatory system we're any safer," said state Sen. Dean Florez, a Democrat.
Noting that the program touts the fact that 99 percent of producers have signed up, Florez adds, "It only takes 1 percent to poison an entire nation."
