Leafy greens group developing new industry-wide metrics for water

Responding to issues of the past year, the leafy greens industry is continuing to address required water standards, particularly those related to use of surface waters. The California Leafy Greens Marketing Association (LGMA) is committed to strengthening its required food safety practices for all certified LGMA members who produce 99 percent of the leafy greens produced in California.

For the past three months, the leafy greens industries in California and Arizona have been developing new water guidelines. An industry group facilitated by Western Growers has taken the leading this effort, and there is broad agreement that using untreated surface waters for overhead irrigation during the final weeks of production presents an elevated risk. Changes to the LGMA’s required food safety practices (metrics) to reduce this risk are being developed with input from food safety scientists and several LGMA member companies.