Sludge Watch ==> Spinach self regulation- next time we may not be so lucky

[Maureen Reilly]

Bakersfield Californian Editorial
Next time we may not be so lucky

Recent spinach recall raises new questions about industry self-regulation of 
California's leafy green safety.
Thursday, Sep 13 2007

We got a taste of industry self-regulation last month when Monterey County 
grower Metz Fresh recalled 8,000 cartons of fresh spinach after a routine 
test turned up salmonella.

The company didn't conduct the salmonella test because some California law 
required it. Metz Fresh didn't announce the recall because of a 
government-mandated consumer-safety protocol. Things happened the way they 
did because of industry self-regulation -- in this case, because Metz Fresh 
was complying with the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing 
Agreement, a set of voluntary food safety rules created after the 2006 
fresh-spinach outbreak of E. coli.

A success story? Hardly. Rather than halting the conveyor belt after a 
preliminary test revealed the presence of salmonella, Metz Fresh let it roll 
while the company lab conducted a second test.

Only when the second test confirmed the presence of salmonella did Metz 
Fresh issue the recall order. The company tracked down about 90 percent of 
the spinach it had shipped in the interim, but a week later it was still 
looking for the missing 800 cases. Fortunately, no illnesses have been 
reported, although that doesn't necessarily mean no one was sickened.

Metz Fresh officials say the spinach would rot in their warehouses while 
time-consuming second tests are undertaken. False positives on those initial 
screenings aren't that uncommon, company officials say, meaning they might 
have halted production for nothing. But confirmation tests can take as 
little as 24 hours, independent food-safety scientists say, and certainly an 
industry this vulnerable to such outbreaks can work to further minimize the 
down time.

And therein lie some of the benefits of establishing state standards for 
testing and recall procedures for leafy-green vegetables.

State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, has advocated a stronger state role, but 
he hasn't been able to get legislation out of the Assembly Agriculture 
Committee.

That would be the agriculture committee chaired by Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, 
Florez's political rival and an unrepentant ally of big ag. When the debate 
comes down to a question of protecting consumers or protecting the farming 
industry, she and Florez are usually split. Perhaps Parra's longtime mentor, 
former Congressman Cal Dooley, now a chief lobbyist with the Food Products 
Association, has something to do with that.

The last time Parra's Ag Committee defeated a Florez consumer-protection 
bill, back in June, it got ugly. Florez claimed committee members were 
"willing to wait for another death" from contaminated vegetables before 
strengthening laws to prevent such outbreaks.

Parra demanded that Florez stop criticizing her entire committee because he 
can't get his food-safety bills approved. "Don't blame members of this 
committee," she said. "Blame me."

Florez no doubt does. But what if the next time industry self-regulation 
fails to catch a potentially deadly bacteria we're not as lucky as we were 
in the Metz Fresh case?

What if people die, as happened with the E. coli outbreak of 2006? Who shall 
we blame for that?

Far better we should credit Parra and her Agriculture Committee for 
eventually seeing the wisdom of state-mandated testing and recall 
procedures.

http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/editorials/story/235297.html