The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association is partnering with Dr. David Gombas of United Fresh Produce Association and Amy Philpott of Watson and Mulhern to offer a FULL day of preparing Georgia’s producers for recalls in the produce industry, Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at the UGA Conference Center in Tifton, GA. This hands-on educational course will help growers and shippers be recall ready with an understanding of the fundamentals of produce recalls.

Many other traceability workshops have been offered in the past but have been too expensive or offered a teaser in order to sell a product. We understand many Georgia producers can’t afford to be away from the farm for more than a day which is why this workshop was been condensed from a two day course into one day of intense education and training. When you leave you will know how to prepare for a recall, the resources you need in the event of a recall and who to have on your side.

Industry experts include FDA Atlanta District Recall Coordinator, Mr. Arnold Best to share exactly what the FDA expects during a recall, Mr. David Durkin of Olsson, Frank and Weeda law firm, to shed light on your rights and responsibilities, Mr. David Gombas, Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Technology with United Fresh Produce Association, to educate on the fundamentals of a product recall and the importance of traceability, and Mrs. Amy Philpott of Watson and Mulhern to help understand how to communicate during a recall and manage customer expectations.

The Be Recall Ready workshop will culminate with a hands-on traceability exercise to put the knowledge to the test. This workshop is presented through the GREAT educational series of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and cosponsored by the Georgia Peach Council, Georgia Watermelon Association and the Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Vegetables.

Be Recall Ready…

Preparing Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Producers for Recalls

August 10, 2010

8:00 a.m. – 6 p.m.

UGA Conference Center, 15 RDC Road, Tifton, GA

This INVALUABLE workshop should not be missed!

See Workshop Agenda 

Click HERE to Registered TODAY  or contact the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers

 Association at 1-877-994-3842.

First Lady Michelle Obama and other Obama administration officials unveiled the action plan in a presentation May 11. The plan to reduce the rate of childhood obesity to 5% by 2030 outlines 70 specific recommendations that stress physical fitness and better nutrition for America’s youth.

The plan’s focus on encouraging increased consumption of fruits and vegetables is in line with foodservice industry trends, said Dawn Sweeney, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Association.

“The restaurant industry is built upon consumer choice, and industry research shows rising customer interest in produce, lean meats, and nutritionally balanced children’s meals,” Sweeney said in a news release.

Sweeney noted the NRA has joined the Produce Marketing Association and International Foodservice Distributors Association in a goal to double the use of produce in foodservice within 10 years.

Pamela Bailey, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Grocery Manufacturers Association, said food companies have embraced the shared responsibility to help reverse the trend of obesity. She said food manufacturers are committed to making healthier food and to share nutritional information more effectively.

The White House task force brings a very thoughtful approach to ambitious changes in nutrition policy, said Ray Gilmer, vice president of communications for the Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh Produce Association. “As far as nutrition policy is concerned, we’re glad to see they are very much on target with what we are trying to do.”

Gilmer said accessibility and cost are considered to barriers to increased consumption by the task force, but he said United Fresh officials were still trying to determine what kind of subsidies the task force may be advocating, asking, “is it subsidies for consumers in feeding programs or is it subsidies for growers?”

United Fresh wants to explore with the administration and the industry about the concepts presented in the task force report, since there is a diversity of opinion concerning producer subsidies, Gilmer said.

The obesity task force report can be found at this link.

By Tom Karst

My name is Bill Brim.  I am the co-owner of Lewis Taylor Farms and Quality Produce, Inc., a farm and shipping operation in Tifton, Georgia.  The farm was originally established as a vegetable seedling operation by my father-in-law in the 1940’s.  Today we still grow vegetable seedlings, approximately 115 million vegetable transplants and 18 million pine seedlings however, our operations have expanded to also include 4500 acres of mixed vegetables.  Included in the 4500 vegetable acres are 120 acres of cabbage and 20 acres of kale.  Lewis Taylor Farms is classified as a large farm operation under SBA guidelines and Quality Produce is classified as a large handler.

Three years ago, September 2006, I watched with horror as the US Food and Drug Administration issued an unprecedented ‘do not eat’ advisory related to spinach.  As we now know, the FDA advisory was caused by an outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 that sickened over 200 people and eventually caused three deaths.  I though at the time how terrible for those growers that did not have any of the contaminated spinach . . . the entire industry was suffering from that one incident.  All I could do at the time was offer a prayer for those growers devastated by the incident and thank God I was not growing any spinach at the time.

However, less than 24months later, I found myself in a similar situation with the tomato fiasco during the summer of 2008.  This time I was one of the effected growers.  In June of 2008 we began harvesting what appeared to be one of our best tomato crops in a number of years.  Less than two weeks later, FDA began issuing consumer warnings concerning salonnella in tomatoes.  While all of the official FDA statements identified Georgia as a ‘safe’ state, the market dried up.  I had over 25 acres of tomatoes that were not harvested because we had no market, roughly a $1.5 million loss.

Both of these situations occurred due to a failure in the execution of the farm’s standard operating procedures or an inadequate food safety practice.

Because Lewis Taylor Farms has always been an advocate of a strong food safety policy we support the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.  We were the first farm certified under the Georgia GAP food safety program in 2001.  At Lewis Taylor Farms food safety oversight and considerations have gone from a low priority 10 years ago to today being an essential tool for us in order to produce, harvest and sell produce.  It is one of our top focuses at Lewis Taylor Farms. We have 2 full time employees that are responsible for insuring food safety compliance in our farm and packing operations.

It is my belief the NLGMA is an excellent example of our industry coming together, developing a unified proposal, and recommending a national program to benefit the consuming public with a stronger food safety policy.   As proposed, the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement will develop food safety metrics that are based on sound science and specific to regions to reduce the potential for microbial contamination in leafy green crops.

Leafy greens growers have faced many challenges in recent years particularly as it relates to the cost of production.  The costs for disease and insect protection along with crop fertilization have significantly increased.  Our fertilization costs alone have increased over 350% since 2005.  While the production input costs are sky rocketing, the price we receive for our crop has remained flat.  Yet I come here advocating a national leafy greens marketing agreement that includes an assessment because I believe it will actually help our industry…and my farm.

It is my hope the NLGMA food safety metrics for leafy greens that includes good agricultural practices, good manufacturing practice and good handling practices will eventually be accepted by all companies purchasing leafy greens. I understand in California many companies are moving away from having their own audit, or ‘super’ metrics, and instead accepting the California LGMA guidelines for their CA operations.    As this National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement matures, I hope a similar practice evolves.  Having one food safety audit, accepted by most of my customers would save the industry and our farmers money. I currently under go three audits a year for various customers.  By having a science based, regional specific national food safety metrics would be beneficial for most growers.

While I cannot speak for all Georgia growers, I do know most of our large to mid-sized producers in Georgia follow good agricultural practices and handling food safety procedures similar to those we follow on our farm.  Food safety is critically important to our state and industry.  In fact, this issue is so important that the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association has a full time staff person working with our GFVGA membership to insure Georgia produce has been grown under best management practices and our growers adhere to good agricultural practices.

A national leafy greens marketing agreement would enable leafy greens handlers across the United States to work together to enhance the marketability of fresh leafy green vegetables by providing for USDA validation and verification of program compliance.  This would, most importantly, improve consumer confidence in leafy greens.

Thank you for holding this hearing and I appreciate the opportunity to submit this testimony in support of the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement.  
]]> http://gfvga.org/2009/09/food-safety-post/feed/ 0 http://gfvga.org/2009/09/testimony-from-kent-hamilton/ http://gfvga.org/2009/09/testimony-from-kent-hamilton/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:42:13 +0000 admin http://gfvga.org/?p=295 Testimony by Kent Hamilton National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement Hearings
September 30 – October 1, 2009
Jacksonville, FL

Hello, thank you for the opportunity to present testimony today.  My name is Kent Hamilton. I operate Hamilton Growers and Southern Valley Produce in Georgia.  Our operations farm many acres of mixed vegetables including 200 acres of cabbage that would be covered under this agreement.  In Mexico we also grow many acres.  All of our domestic produce is handled, packed and shipped from our Southern Valley Produce facility in Norman Park, Georgia.  According to SBA classifications I would be a large grower and a small handler.  Our leafy greens operation would be classified as both a small grower and a small handler.

I am speaking today in support of the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement which has as its primary goal . . . enhancing consumer confidence in our leafy green products.

The Agreement allows willing industry members, that voluntarily sign on to the agreement, to be the “owners” of the process.  The NLGMA does not impose a top-down set of regulations but allows signatories to become committed stakeholders actively working to continuously improve food safety practices and results.  These guidelines and metrics are developed and approved via the Technical Review Board and Administrative Committee.  This national program will bring a clear set of science based, region specific guidelines to all producers and buyers that wish to voluntarily participate.

In recent years, microbial contamination of food products in the marketplace has,

• led to public and industry concern for food safety,
• a drop in consumer confidence of products related with food safety events,
• and severe economic consequences for producers and handlers of those products affected.

The marketing agreement allows for the development of production and handling best practices that will be endorsed by all signatories resulting in the improvement of product quality and consumer confidence.

Absent a national marketing agreement, retailers, food service industries, and states will continue to develop and implement their own food safety standards for producers and handlers– at times competing against each other to create a competitive advantage.  With a national marketing agreement, the likelihood of producers and handlers being subject to multiple inconsistent audit requirements is reduced.  This could prove to be the case based on the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement (LGMA) . . . many retailers and food service industries are now accepting the LGMA audit rather than requiring their audit to be performed.

The California LGMA also conducted a nationwide survey in late February 2009 to determine how consumers view the food safety efforts by the industry.  89% of consumers had a favorable opinion when they were told about the food safety programs and mandatory government audits being implemented under the LGMA program.  And, 70% of consumers said that after learning more about the LGMA food safety program their confidence in the overall safety of leafy green products increased.

Just as the producer community is plagued with diverse specifications and requirements for food safety .. so too are buyers struggling with the myriad programs that are being implemented in the field … with a National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement in place there will be an established set of uniform baseline standards that could eventually be adopted by the regulatory community … at the same time be believe industry developed guidelines will be more practical for growers and handlers based on current best practices.

In closing I strongly encourage members of the industry to endorse and embrace this National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement to insure our industry has a mechanism to organize science based guidelines, and increase consumer confidence in our products.   Thank you for your time and the opportunity to submit this testimony.

My name is Charles Hall, Executive Director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.  The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association represents the interests of growers, shippers, handlers and allied companies involved in the production and distribution of fruits and vegetables grown in Georgia.  In 2008, fruit and vegetable production in Georgia covered over 175,000 acres of land and had a farm gate value of almost one billion dollars.

In Georgia, the primary commodity covered in the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (NLGMA) is cabbage.  Georgia produced over 9,300 acres of cabbage in 2008 at a farm gate value of $35 million.  Georgia also produced 18,000 acres of ‘other leafy greens’ at a farm gate value of $57 million.  This acreage includes a small percentage of kale, spinach and leaf lettuce.  Most of the ‘other leafy greens’ are collards, turnips and mustard greens and are not included in the marketing agreement as they are primarily cooked prior to consumption.

I am pleased to provide this testimony in support of the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement on behalf of the Association.  We have worked with other national and regional organizations to develop the proposed leafy greens marketing agreement, and we believe it is an excellent vehicle to maximize the safety of these products that may propose some threat to consumers.  We believe with the help of consistent government oversight, the risk from pathogens associated with leafy greens can be reduced.  The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association is pleased to be a member of the proponent group for this marketing agreement.

We have reviewed the proponent testimony submitted at the hearings in Monterey, CA on September 22-24, 2009.  We support the provisions of the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement entered into the record by the proponents at that hearing.

For almost ten years the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association has operated a food safety education program to assist our growers in meeting the requirements that would insure a safe and wholesome food supply from their farms.  Currently we have one full time staff member and several contracted consultants that work with GFVGA members to insure their operations meet the appropriate food safety guidelines for third party audits.

As food borne disease outbreaks have continued, we have lost some consumer confidence in our fresh produce.  We believe the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement will provide a program to help the consuming public be confident in both domestic and imported leafy greens.

The goals of the NLGMA are:

• To provide a mechanism to enable fresh leafy green handlers to organize;

• To enhance the quality of fresh leafy green vegetable products available in the marketplace through the application of good agricultural and handling practices;

• To implement a uniform, auditable, science-based food safety enhancement program;

• To provide for USDA validation and verification of food safety program compliance;

• To foster greater collaboration with local, state and federal regulators;

• To improve consumer confidence in fresh leafy greens; and

• To protect public health.

For my testimony today, I would like to address several areas which have generated a number of questions and discussion as the proponent group received input during the education phase.

USDA vs. FDA

There has been some questions as to whether USDA is the proper agency for this a marketing agreement focused on food safety.  The proposal through the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement is not intended to over ride FDA’s initiatives but rather to allow industry to collaborate with FDA, USDA and state governments to develop a program that meets the needs of all parties. In addition, any best practices adopted by the marketing agreement are to be based on FDA guidance or standards that would be issued by FDA.  FDA is the enforcement and policy making body, with USDA providing the operational and auditing oversight for the NLGMA.  USDA currently has a produce auditing body both domestically and internationally that covers good agricultural, manufacturing, and handling practices. They are rooted in the agricultural industry and understand audits performed in an agricultural setting.

Administrative Structure

The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association supports the organizational and administrative structure of the NLGMA.  There is an Administrative Committee that provides governance oversight to the agreement which is organized by Zones.

The regulation outlines the members per Zone making up the committee.  While the representation is not perfect, it is a workable and regionally represented committee.  Although the majority of leafy green production is in California and Arizona, no zone has controlling votes on the committee.  For example, CA is in Zone 1 which has 6 votes and AZ is in Zone 2 with 4 votes.  The two Zones # 1 and #2 in which California and Arizona are represented account for only 10 of the 23 votes on the committee.

In addition to a specific number of handlers and producers from each of the zones, the Administrative Committee will also have one representative from retail, foodservice, the public and an importer.

Small Farms

The NLGMA is a voluntary program, and as such is not mandatory for any handler to participate.  It is the policy of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association that any produce offered for commercial distribution and sales should follow good agricultural practices and the minimum guidance as outlined by FDA.  It is critically important for all farms to have the proper safeguards in place to meet these standards if their produce is in commercial distribution.

Some concern has been expressed that small producers are not properly represented on the Administrative Committee.  Section 970.40 (a) (9) (b) specifically requires that ‘two producers must be small producers as defined in the rules and regulations.’ As such, it would appear that small growers will have proper representation on the Administrative Committee.

Technical Review Board

The regulation provides for a Technical Review Board which is critically important to the NLGMA.  This is the body charged with developing the food safety guidelines and audit metrics utilized by the marketing agreement.  Section 970.45 in the Agreement specifics the people making up the Technical Review Board.  The Board is charged with appointing subcommittees as necessary to facilitate input and review from regions throughout the production areas as metrics are being developed.  There is much interest in these is metrics and these best practices as they can have a great impact on the cost of the food safety programs required of the signatories.

The Technical Review Board and subcommittees will use best science based technologies from several disciplines in developing the metrics for the various production areas under consideration.  Utilizing this system, the Technical Review Board plays a key role in tailoring the metrics to enhance food safety without adversely impacting smaller growers, handlers or their environments.

This scientific review system along with the makeup of the Board was designed to bring together varying expertise in one body.  GFVGA believes this is the most effective method to address sound scientific practices and regional differences.  The proposed NLGMA rule would, at the industry’s recommendation, introduce a blueprint for food safety that brings together growers, handlers and our customers to insure we are producing the safest product possible for the US consumer.

In closing, GFVGA believes it is in the best interest of not only Georgia producers but the entire leafy green industry to approve the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.  We see this proposed agreement as a strong, effective tool to minimize risk, build consumer confidence and ensure a safe food supply.  We thank USDA and FDA for their support of this concept and their willingness to provide guidance in helping us understand the rules we must follow in recommending this proposal.  We appreciate USDA’s willingness to hold this series of hearings, so our leafy green handlers can vote to put this agreement to work for the US consumer as soon as possible.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

Charles T. Hall, Jr., Executive Director

Georgia Fruit and vegetable Growers Association

P.O. Box 2945

LaGrange, GA  30241

706-845-8200

chall@asginfo.net

My name is L.G. ‘Bo’ Herndon. I currently serve as President of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.  I am a producer/packer/shipper of ???XX acres of fresh produce in Lyons, Georgia, including Vidalia onions, sweet corn and ??xx acres of leafy greens.  According to SBA business definitions my total operation would be classified as a large grower but my leafy greens operation would be considered a small grower.  I am classified as a small handler for my leafy greens.

As a grower, packer/shipper I support the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. I believe it will be beneficial to our growers and handlers because it is a voluntary program that allows for regionally specific food safety audit metrics for all participants.  Currently, my operation under goes XX audits a year. With a nationally recognized marketing agreement, I am optimistic this agreement could reduce the number of audits and potentially save my operation and other farm operations money and time.  At the same time this type of program could reduce the incidences of food borne pathogens on leafy green vegetables.

I believe this marketing agreement is in the best interest of the leafy greens industry, but more importantly I believe it is in the best interest of our U.S. consumers.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.