With a state senator poised to introduce legislation that would regulate growing practices in California, those who grow and process leafy green vegetables are taking a step toward self-regulating the safety of those crops.

Most Central Coast produce handlers will likely sign up with the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement that/s designed to assure the safety of such crops as lettuce and spinach.

But some apparently are skeptical it will work, and some think crop safety should be regulated at the federal level.

The agreement, announced Wednesday, is the industry/s response to E. coli contamination of spinach and lettuce that sickened and, in the case of spinach, killed consumers in two separate incidents last year.

&#8220It/s a first step toward policing ourselves,C said Richard Quandt, president of the Grover-Shipper Vegetable Association, which represents growers and produce handlers from Arroyo Grande to Lompoc.

The agreement

Developed primarily by the California Farm Bureau Federation and the Western Growers Association, the agreement would establish an inspection program for those who handle leafy greens.

Handlers are middlemen who prepare, package and otherwise move the products from field to market, and they/re being asked to sign on to the agreement by Feb. 5.

If enough handlers sign on to make it effective, the California Department of Food and Agriculture would certify the agreement, said Steve Lyle, director of public affairs for the department.

At that point, the department would establish the California Leafy Green Advisory Board, which would have up to 13 members, including three from the &#8220Oxnard-Santa Maria area,C which despite the name would include San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.

The board would contract with businesses or agencies to inspect those who signed the agreement to make sure they are complying with set standards and using only produce from growers who adhere to certain &#8220best practicesC in their operations.

In addition, the board would receive complaints about violations, and would collect assessments from those who have signed the agreement to cover administrative costs.

Those who have signed on would be allowed to use a special seal on their products, certifying their safe-handling practices to consumers.

Although the agreement is being handled by a state agency, it is not a state program, Lyle emphasized.

&#8220What we/re doing is at the request of the industry itself,C he explained, noting that if not enough handlers sign on for the agreement to work, it will be up to the industry to come up with another plan.

&#8220The Department of Food and Agriculture has no plans to step in and regulate (the industry) at this time,C he said.

Mixed support

The impetus for the market agreement has come from the Salinas Valley, the apparent source of lettuce and spinach contaminated with E. coli that caused last year/s outbreak.

But in this area, support of the program is less solid.

&#8220Among the leafy-green-vegetable handlers, at least in the Santa Maria area, there are some that support it and some that don/t,C Quandt said.

&#8220It/s had widespread support in the Salinas area, but in this area, we have more of a >wait and see/ attitude,C he said. &#8220I think most will sign on and give it a chance, see how successful it is in terms of addressing the food-safety issue.C

Quandt said the association has 15 to 20 leafy-green-vegetable handlers, shippers and processors from Arroyo Grande to Lompoc who handle about 30 million cartons of produce a year.

Most of that is lettuce of several varieties, although some spinach also is grown here.

&#8220We see this as a better alternative than mandatory government regulation that may or may not make a lot of sense,C Quandt said, noting those in the industry are more knowledgeable about the intricacies of growing and processing than legislators.

&#8220We don/t necessarily need the government to step in and start regulating, especially on a state-by-state basis,C he added, noting it could take years to develop federal regulations..

Richard Adam, whose Adam Brothers Farming grows broccoli, cauliflower, celery and iceberg and Romaine lettuce in the Santa Maria Valley, agrees that individual states should not regulate the industry.

But Adam, whose operation not only grows but also processes its own products, said he also doesn/t think voluntary self-regulation will work, because that, too, would vary from state to state.

&#8220My view is that it should be done on a federal level,C although state regulation may work on an interim basis, Adam said &#8220The federal level is the way to do it.

&#8220Otherwise, some will be doing it and some won/t, and you/ll be importing (unregulated) products in direct competition with what we do,C he explained.

&#8220The citizens would not really be well-protected by that. Food safety is an issue all over the United States, not just in California. The USDA has regulations, and they should apply their regulations all over the nation.C

Adam said one problem with the marketing agreement is that handlers are being asked to agree to use products grown using &#8220best practicesC that haven/t even been established yet.

Those would be set by the Leafy Green Advisory Board once it/s formed.

&#8220We don/t know what those are,C Adam said. &#8220They/re going to set the standards, but they/re not known at this time. They want people to buy into something unknown.C

Assuring safety

Adam said a lot of people in the industry 7 especially handlers 7 want the growers to guarantee their products, but that/s just not possible.

&#8220Given that there are birds that fly over the fields, and nobody/s figured out how to control that, and miscellaneous dogs in the fields, we can/t guarantee … antiseptic conditions in the field, although we do our best,C he said. &#8220And we/re all for food safety. We eat our own products, too.C

Adam said if one contaminated head of lettuce gets into the produce processing line, the bacteria could proliferate and end up contaminating 10,000 heads.

That/s why he believes produce should be irradiated as it/s being processed, which would kill all the bacteria and prevent its spread.

Local growers and handlers already are taking many of the steps that would be required by the marketing agreement, according to Quandt.

All those involved with leafy-green vegetables in the area pay for third-party audits of their operations that include testing water wells and inspecting field packing facilities.

Inspectors make sure machines are scrubbed down, knives are soaked in disinfectant and workers aren/t taking food into the fields. They inspect compost, check to see that fields haven/t been flooded, and even examine uses on adjacent land.

Growers provide field sanitation units, and workers are required to wear hair nets and gloves and wash their hands.

&#8220They/re just like restaurant workers,C Quandt said of the field crews, adding, &#8220Nobody wants to produce tainted products.C

Pending legislation

Although growers and handlers are taking steps to self-regulate the leafy-green-vegetable industry, they may be facing state regulations in the near future anyway.

State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, plans to introduce three bills this week that would increase governmental control of growers, primarily as the result of the E. coli outbreaks last year.

Although no definitive reports have been issued on the source of the contamination, some investigators believe the E. coli came from fecal contamination from cattle operations; some have blamed wild pigs; others think it could have come from irrigation water or compost.

The legislation proposed by Florez would mandate buffer zones to separate crops from feed lots and dairies, require irrigation water to be tested for bacteria, and set standards for fencing to keep animals out of vegetable crops.

It also would require better tracking of produce from fields to shelves, and would authorize the state Department of Health Services to condemn crops if safety rules are violated.

Lastly, it would increase funding for crop inspection.

But Quandt said the market agreement is probably a better approach.

&#8220I think people feel legislators might not be the most informed about the science behind microbial contamination,C he said. &#8220I think this agreement, in all likelihood, will produce greater food safety.C

&#8220This is the industry/s way to say, >Let/s do something immediately and restore consumer confidence in these products.C

Mike Hodgson can be reached at 739-2221 or mhodgson@santamariatimes.com.

Jan. 28, 2007