Keeping animals out of food fields, ensuring growing water is of good quality, and good hygiene are all new goals.
These days you might be thinking twice before ordering a salad. According to ABC7 Eyewitness News, between 2006 and 2019 there were at least 46 national E.coli outbreaks in the US attributed to leafy greens resulting in hospitalizations and deaths.
Many of the outbreaks could be traced back to animals contaminating the products in the field.
In response to this problem, the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has outlined a new action plan. It will help improve the safety of leafy greens available to consumers in the American markets, starting in 2020.
How will this be done? The Administration states on its website that it will be taking steps to implement the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule.
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This is something that established science-based minimum standards for several aspects of the produce industry. The areas covered by these standards include how produce is safely grown, harvested, packed and held.
The FDA says it hopes to implement these standards by examining some amendments. These include changes to biological soil, the practice of animal intrusions into fields, and hygiene practices. It also includes how things operate with farming equipment, tools and buildings.
There is going to be an emphasis on prevention and on educating all those involved in growing leafy produce and getting it to our tables.
Will it all work? Hopefully. Hopefully with all these new measures, a nice bowl of salad will be on the table this spring and summer, without any complications. Let’s see.
