To:       Joe Pezzini, Chair, California Leafy Green Handler Marketing Board

 

cc:        Secretary A.G. Kawamura, California Department of Food and Agriculture

            Tom Nassif, President and CEO, Western Growers Association

            Scott Horsfall, CEO, California Leafy Green Handler Marketing Board

 

 

I want to continue buying my leafy greens whole, fresh and unprocessed from local California growers. I do not want to lose that option because of costly, burdensome and inappropriate food safety rules. 

 

There is no historical or logical basis for including traditional crops grown for the fresh market in regulations developed for the suppliers and processors of pre-cut, packaged produce. I am concerned that the availability and diversity of fresh greens will be seriously impaired unless the definition being used for “leafy greens” in these rules is changed.

 

Just a handful of farms in California grow most of the leafy greens for processing, and it is in these “ready-to-eat” products that the risk is high. On the other hand, farms growing fresh market leafy greens include thousands of small and mid-sized family farms. While food safety programs are obviously needed on all farms, these fresh-market growers are at risk of being unfairly swept into rules that should be focused on pre-cut and processed leafy greens. Many fresh market growers will have a difficult time navigating through the maze of regulations created for a processed product.  Food safety programs appropriate for small and mid-sized farms should be developed with university researchers.

 

It is critical to the health of the public, California growers, and the state’s environment that the intensive research into the many currently unanswered scientific questions about how contamination occurs be completed, in order to know if the proposed standards are even going to solve the problem. The Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement should be field tested and scientifically verified.  Imposing these regulations on all farmers before we know the basic facts is creating unnecessarily destructive trade-offs among public health, environmental stewardship, and the survival of family farming. 

 

Thank you very much for your consideration,

 

Sign on to this letter and demand to keep your access to traditional, fresh leafy greens from local California growers! 

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