January 25, 2007

Dear Secretary Kawamura:

On behalf of the United Fresh Produce Association, we are writing to applaud the Department of Food and Agriculture on the announcement yesterday of the Proposed California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement.

As you know, our association has worked hard to provide scientific and technical resources to assist the California leafy greens industry in the preparation of strong and measurable food safety metrics that will be at the core of the marketing agreement. We believe that industry compliance with these standards under the marketing agreement would be an important immediate step to assuring the public that the California leafy greens industry is taking all appropriate measures to provide the safest possible foods. While we know growers, shippers, processors and handlers have always put food safety at the top of their priorities, we believe the enhanced standards under the proposed marketing agreement are a significant step forward not only for California but nationally.

As we discussed personally at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee meeting in Washington, DC on January 23, our association is also committed to work toward consistent and mandatory produce safety standards at the federal level to provide the greatest possible assurance to the public, and an equitable regulatory framework for produce regardless of production region, both within the United States and from imports outside of the country. The standards being developed for lettuce and leafy greens in California are a major step in that direction, and we look forward to continuing to work with CDFA and our member companies in California to promote adoption of these standards.

As our organization continues to pursue comprehensive federal oversight of all fresh produce safety, our industry will also go a long way to building and maintaining public confidence in our products by adopting strong and rigorous standards such as those planned in the leafy greens agreement.

Please let us know if you have any questions or if we can be of assistance in any way.

Sincerely,

Thomas E. Stenzel
President and CEO