The 10-year Anniversary of Intensive Field-level Fresh Produce Safety Programming in Arizona: What Works and What Doesn’t

In 2006, a group of California handlers of leafy greens established the Leafy Greens Products Handler Marketing Agreement (LGMA) in response to the E. coli outbreak that was attributed to spinach grown in the Salinas Valley.  The spinach recall resulting from the outbreak, and the consequential lack of consumer confidence in the industry, had a disproportionate impact on produce farmers and handlers in California and Arizona, since nearly 89% of leafy greens sold in the United States come from these two states.  A voluntary program, the LGMA has been widely accepted by the produce industry, grocers and foodservice firms.  Arizona also adopted an LGMA and has been implementing the program since 2008.  Although the LGMA is an agreement between produce shippers, many of its compliance requirements fall upon growers to implement, as it requires signatory members to source their leafy greens solely from growers found to be in compliance with a set of food safety provisions called “best practices.”

The LGMA guidelines are technically voluntary, but because produce companies that purchase over 99% of Arizona’s leafy greens have committed to selling only products grown in compliance with the LGMA, the standard has essentially become mandatory for many Arizona farmers.  The LGMA offered hope of a respite from private industry standards and the requirement that they comply with multiple standards in order to sell to multiple buyers.  However, the food safety benefits to companies participating in the LGMA are unclear.  No food safety protocol guarantees safe food, nor is it known where the contamination of the lettuce took place.

For farmers, the expected gains from having one standard applied consistently across the leafy greens industry have not materialized. Some produce buyers who adopted the LGMA continue to enforce their own standards as well, requiring farmers to be audited for both.  Small farm, conservation and wildlife groups are concerned about the stringent guidance on wildlife, noncrop vegetation and water testing.  These groups also worry that small and biodiverse farms are being forced to choose between market access and their biodiversity and conservation goals.

In light of the national implementation of Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) guidelines, this presentation provides a specific overview of the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement as it relates to the ramifications of existing and proposed protocols, while recognizing that the one-size-fits-all approach may not be appropriate especially when identifying the diversity of farm sizes and production methods in US.