Western Growers President Responds to
Retail and Food Service Industry Regarding
Food Safety Standards
IRVINE,
Calif., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ --
Western Growers today responded to concerns
and expectations from food retailers and
food service industry representatives
regarding food safety issues. A letter
from Tom Nassif, CEO of Western Growers,
addressed to Tim Hammonds of the Food
Marketing Institute, Tim York as a representative
of many buyer companies, and Donna Garren
of the National Restaurants Association,
outlined steps taken to restore consumer
and buyer confidence and ensure food safety
all along the supply chain. In the letter
Nassif detailed the produce industry's
actions to date.
He
stated that as produce suppliers in the
distribution chain, "we are aggressively
working to develop a set of best food
safety practices with industry, academic,
buyer and regulatory input. The final
product will be reviewed by an expert
panel of food safety scientists named
by industry and public health agencies.
We are on track to complete the best practices
guidelines in December."
The
Western Growers Board of Directors voted
in October to initiate a State Marketing
Agreement and a State and Federal Marketing
Order process to make stringent food safety
guidelines mandatory throughout the industry
and invited government regulatory agencies
to oversee the industry.
The
letter to the food service and food retailers
outlined the progress and details of the
Marketing Agreement and Marketing Order.
"This entire process is being coordinated
with PMA (Produce Marketing Association),
United Fresh, California Farm Bureau Federation,
Grower Shipper Association of Central
California and other organizations representing
our industry," stated Nassif in the
letter.
Nassif
also requested cooperation from the buyer
community to ensure food safety integrity
throughout the supply chain. "All
of these efforts ... apply only to the
supply side of the chain," he stated.
"In order for any supply side food
safety practices and processes to be successful,
we must have full support and collaboration
from buyers as well."
The
Western Growers letter concluded by calling
for a unified approach to food safety
and urged buyers to apply these standards
to all producers nationally and internationally."
As
an industry we are aggressively working
to develop an enforceable food safety
program that will provide a specific,
standardized, measurable and verifiable
process that will ensure product integrity
from field to fork. We must have the full
cooperation and collaboration of retail
and food service buyers to implement and
maintain the program and process and we
look forward to your support in all these
efforts," stated Nassif.
Commenting
on Western Growers' letter to the retail
and food service industries, Nassif pointed
out the shared nature of food safety responsibility.
"The fact is, food safety must continue
to be the top priority for not only our
industry, but for all those who are involved
in delivering product to the consumer.
That priority will continue to have a
cost and that cost must be shared by all
those along the food chain, not just the
growers and shippers."
Western Growers is an agriculture trade
association whose members grow, pack and
ship ninety percent of the fresh fruits,
nuts and vegetables grown in California
and seventy five percent of those commodities
in Arizona. This totals about half of
the nation's fresh produce.
Western Growers
Contact: Tim Chelling, VP Communications
of Western Growers,
+1-949-885-2256
TChelling@wga.com/
