Operators benefit from FDA produce guide, but other food safety efforts are necessary

Nation's Restaurant News,  March 26, 2007  by Alan J. Liddle

Tags: benefit, FDA

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently released for produce processors its "Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Fresh-cut Fruits and Vegetables."

Those nonbinding recommendations could go a long way in bringing backward processors up to speed on basic food safety issues and encouraging other involved players to adopt sophisticated Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, or HACCP, systems.

Still, it is probably a good thing that the release of the FDA guide was not the only recent or looming development in efforts to boost food safety and heighten consumer confidence in so-called "fresh-cut produce." Grower practices or facilities also are implicated in some produce safety problems.

At the same time, some consumer and produce trade groups question the viability of safety initiatives that currently are strictly voluntary.

Fresh-cut produce is produce that is washed and trimmed or peeled or otherwise processed so that consumers can, if they desire, eat it right out of the bag. Such items as bagged spinach, broccoli florets and sliced apples are part of the fast-growing fresh-cut category that foodservice operators increasingly favor because it simplifies preparation of the fruit and vegetable entrees and side dishes demanded by many consumers.

But even as fresh-cut produce has contributed to healthier eating by millions of Americans and grown rapidly in sales, with the annual total now estimated at about $12 billion, it increasingly has been tied to illness outbreaks and some deaths. In 2006 alone, three deaths and several hundred illnesses were associated with E. coil-contaminated fresh-cut lettuce used in restaurants and bagged spinach sold through supermarkets.

Nearly as troubling as the physical suffering and loss of life associated with fresh-cut-produce contamination in recent years has been the government and foodservice industry's collective inability to find definitive causes for the outbreaks. This has prompted various parties to propose tightening up controls on everything from recordkeeping to containment of wild animals that might defecate in fields or waterways.

The National Restaurant Association is "supportive" of the FDA's efforts and guidelines, and it said the voluntary guidelines must be considered part of an evolutionary process because research into the causes of produce contamination is ongoing.

But even as the NRA voiced such support for FDA actions, its leaders were preparing for a meeting in Monterey, Calif., this week with restaurant company executives, produce industry leaders, distributors, and state and federal government officials.

The conference is to be sponsored by Taco Bell Corp., whose restaurants in several states were implicated last year in a lettuce-linked outbreak with 71 confirmed cases of E. coli illness and reports that hundreds of other patrons showed similar symptoms but did not seek medical care.

Donna Garren, NRA vice president of health and safety regulatory affairs, said the Produce Safety & The Foodservice Industry conference would touch on past produce problems and strategies for improving the safety of foods from the "farm to the table." Also planned, she indicated, would be an analysis of the likely response by regulatory agencies and the necessary timeline for the development of regulations, as well as the development of restaurant industry requirements for produce vendors.

The FDA guidelines have been criticized as "too little, too late" by representatives of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, or CSPI, among others, who advocate the adoption of enforceable, mandatory standards, such as those employed by operators in the meat industry.

Officials of the FDA have suggested that they were able to issue the nonbinding recommendations faster than they could have pushed through regulatory measures. Some government critics, including CSPI, have charged that the FDA can't issue safety mandates because the organization does not have the resources to enforce them.

Recent developments on the produce industry front have stirred up hope and controversy among advocates for safer fruits and vegetables.

Because the United Fresh Produce Association recognizes that consumer confidence is at stake, chief executive Thomas E. Stenzel said his group is "committed to work toward consistent and mandatory produce safety standards at the federal level."

Stopping short of calling for food safety mandates, the 211-member Produce Marketing Association has pledged $2.75 million for research and the development of protocols, among other steps to enhance and protect produce safety.

Also, the Western Growers Association recently worked with the California Department of Food & Agriculture to create the California Leafy Greens Handler Marketing Order. That industry-funded, state-administered pact requires participating companies to accept fresh-cut leafy greens only from growers who agree to follow specified food safety procedures and to undergo inspections by state-approved inspectors.