POLICY :: National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement

(last updated October 5, 2009)

The USDA is currently deciding if it should enact a National Leafy Greens Handler Marketing Agreement (NLGMA). CAFF is opposed to this proposed approach to food safety where an industry board dominated by large processors and shippers could dictate farming practices to all farmers. Rules following this model could devastate traditional leafy green farmers nationwide to address a processing industry problem that they did not create. 

View the proposed marketing agreement at the NLGMA website.

Read about the USDA process and upcoming hearings.

View testimony and evidence submitted at the Monterey, CA hearings.

Read CAFF's comments to the USDA when this national marketing agreement was first proposed.

Since 1999, all reported illnesses related to E. Coli O157:H7, lettuce and spinach were traced to processed, bagged salad (that the industry calls "fresh-cut").

View CAFF's Analysis and Chart of E. Coli O157:H7 outbreaks in leafy greens. Download CAFF's position.

Information

• State (CA) and Federal Leafy Green Legislation
  • "Ready to Eat or Not: Examining the Impact of Leafy Green Marketing Agreements": Testimony by Dale Cook on the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreements at the Subcommittee hearing, July 29, 2009. For more information, please visit the committee hearing website.
• CAFF's Leafy Green Press and Media

• Leafy Green Resources
  • California Leafy Green Handler Marketing Agreement
  • Download the article "Food Safety Versus Environmental Protection on the Central California Coast: Exploring the Science Behind an Apparent Conflict" by Diana Stuart, Carol Shennan and Martha Brown
  • Western Growers Association: a resource for food safety information
  • Movie: Defending Family Farmers Industrial Food Safety Fallout