May 19, 2016

Panel finds LGMA guidelines sound

A panel of food safety experts participating in an outside, independent review of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement’s (LGMA) food safety guidelines has issued a report where it finds LGMA’s guidelines scientifically sound.

Panel members found the LGMA guidelines provide at least the same level of public health protections as the Produce Safety Rule under the new Food Safety Modernization Act. The panel noted that in many areas, the LGMA Guidelines offer more detailed guidance and are consequently more rigorous than the new federal food safety law, according to LGMA.

The independent review was conducted by IDS Decision Sciences and Western Growers. As part of the assignment, reviewers were asked to evaluate the most recent available version of the Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Production and Harvest of Lettuce and Leafy Greens from 2015. Since the LGMA was established in 2007, the guidelines have been updated 12 times.

Between July and September 2015, the expert panel was convened to review and comment on the most recent available edition of the LGMA guidelines. The panel was asked to evaluate the document to ensure it represents the most up-to-date science and, additionally, to compare it with the provisions of the proposed FSMA Produce Rule.

Participants on the review panel included: Robert Bracket, vice president and director of the Institute for Food Safety and Health at the Illinois Institute of Technology; Michele Jay-Russel, project director of the Western Center for Food Safety at University of California; Kali E. Kniel, professor of microbial food safety at the University of Delaware; and Manan Sharma, research microbiologist in the Environmental and Microbial Food Safety Laboratory with the Agricultural Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Panel member Kniel also praised the LGMA Guidelines use of decision trees and microbiological explanations using language the industry can easily understand, LGMA said.

The panel provided some suggested modifications to the LGMA Guidelines and referenced new research findings that will soon be available to further update the food safety practices.

A copy of the panel report is available on the Leafy Green Marketing Association website.