Mar 16, 2021
Million-dollar CPS donors: Produce safety is a ‘top-level threat’

Two of the fresh produce industry’s leading organizations are each donating $1 million to the Center for Produce Safety to continue that group’s work to fund science, find solutions and fuel change in fresh produce food safety.

And while the two contributors’ business structures are very different, their motivations for supporting Center for Produce Safety (CPS) are the same: to safeguard consumers and the industry’s future, by improving produce safety knowledge.

Dave Puglia

According to a news release, Taylor Farms and Western Growers are the first Diamond ($1,000,000+) level supporters to a capital fundraising campaign that Center for Produce Safety unveiled in late January; the campaign began quietly in late 2020. CPS has now raised over $5 million toward its $15 million goal to finance produce-specific food safety research, and to transfer research learnings to industry, government and other stakeholders, over the next five years.

Dave Puglia, president and CEO of the trade association Western Growers, ranks food safety as a “top-level threat” to the fresh produce industry. The association also contributed $1 million to CPS in 2015 during CPS’s previous campaign.

“We are in an era of greater transparency, and the high expectations that come with transparency about how this industry operates and the standards that it adheres to,” Puglia said. Along with labor and water, “food safety has joined a triumvirate of challenging issues that need our full attention.”

Bruce Taylor, chairman and CEO of the fresh-cut processing giant Taylor Farms, similarly noted what’s at stake for industry members and their brands.

“Produce safety is important to us because one in three Americans enjoy Taylor Farms’ healthy, fresh foods every week,” he said. “It is critical that we continue to earn our consumers’ trust by producing very safe food.”

Taylor pointed to CPS’s success to date to make the case for supporting the center’s continued work. Taylor Farms co-founded CPS with Produce Marketing Association in 2007 with a $2 million contribution, and gave another $1.25 million to CPS’s 2015 campaign.

Bruce Taylor

“We are delighted to see the amazing progress in research and practical application of food safety knowledge that is being driven by Center for Produce Safety,” said Taylor. “We’ve seen a consistent track record of success with their research programs, and their ability to communicate to the industry. That’s just as important – research without communication doesn’t help anybody.”

Puglia connected CPS’s work to two Western Growers priorities: food safety, and technology.

“For us, investing in Center for Produce Safety promises to deliver practical, science-based solutions to enhance food safety practices that will be realized by technology in many cases,” Puglia said. “On the other side, the technologies that don’t exist today can get us those practical food safety solutions. We are invested in bringing those new technologies forward quickly. The two have power together.”

Both executives called on their counterparts across the fresh produce supply chain to step up and join them in supporting Center for Produce Safety’s future.

“One, open your checkbook,” said Puglia. “And two, pay attention to the work being done within CPS. Don’t assume that because some really talentedfood-safety experts are keeping their eyes and their brains engaged with CPS, that covers all the bases.

“The practical impacts of CPS-funded research have to be understood by everybody in the industry, including the people who grow, the people who harvest, the people who market the product,” Puglia said. “Help shape Center for Produce Safety’s research portfolio, and guide its priorities.”

“The future is in our collective hands,” stressed Taylor. “It is incumbent on us as an industry to do everything we can to win consumers’ trust.”

Contributions to date

As of March 1, the following companies have contributed to CPS’s new fundraising campaign. A current list of contributors can be viewed at www.centerforproducesafety.org/2020-campaign.php.

Diamond Level Supporters, $1,000,000+

Taylor Farms

Western Growers

Platinum Level Supporters, $500,000 – $999,999

Dole Fresh Vegetables/Dole Food Company

Gold Level Supporters, $250,000 – $499,999

California Fresh Fruit Association

Tanimura & Antle

Silver Level Supporters, $100,000 – $249,999

Lipman Family Farms

JV Smith Companies

Promotora Agricola El Toro

Western Precooling

Grimmway Farms/Cal-Organic

McEntire Produce, Inc.

Driscoll’s

The Giumarra Companies

GreenGate Fresh

iFoodDecisionSciences

Mission Produce, Inc.

Pacific International Marketing

Bronze-Plus Level Supporters, $50,000 to $99,999

The Oppenheimer Group

Amigo Farms

California Avocado Commission

DiMare Fresh

GoodFarms

L&M Companies

New York Apple Association

Bronze Level Supporters, up to $49,999:

Bonduelle Fresh Americas

Coastline Family Farms, Inc.

Little Bear Produce

Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Inc.

Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association

Diversified Restaurant Systems, Inc.

Florida Tomato Committee

Pasquinelli Produce Co.

Tyger Sales and Marketing, LLC

Wish Farms

National Watermelon Association

Blue Book Services, Inc.

Primus Labs

Pacific Ag Pak, Inc

Many industry organizations have supported CPS since it was founded in 2007. A complete list of contributors to CPS’s 2015 campaign can be viewed at www.centerforproducesafety.org/2015-campaign.php.

The 501(c)(3) nonprofit Center for Produce Safety (CPS) focuses exclusively on funding science, finding solutions and fueling change in fresh produce food safety.

The center is a unique partnership, bringing together leaders from industry, government, and the scientific and academic communities. CPS funds credible, independent research worldwide, then transfers that knowledge and tools to industry and other stakeholders through an annual Research Symposium (virtual in 2021), its website, webinars, trade press guest columns and other outreach.

Since it was founded in 2007, Center for Produce Safety has invested more than $30 million to fund produce-specific safety research.

For more information, visit here.




Current Issue

VGN April Cover

Insect Eavesdropper allows growers to “hear” what’s happening in fields

Managing wildlife on the farm

Southwest Florida’s Worden Farm manages challenges

Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association says farewell to leader

Southeast Regional Show recognizes leaders

Veg Connections: Biopesticides and beneficial insects

Business: Why do most succession plans fail?

60 years of advocating for agricultural employers

Keeping CSA members engaged and loyal

see all current issue »

Be sure to check out our other specialty agriculture brands

produceprocessingsm Organic Grower