Joining representatives from four national meat and poultry associations, Dr. David Gombas, senior vice president food safety and technology, was invited to brief USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Program officials on food safety research needs for fresh produce.

"Researchers and the fresh produce industry came together in 2007 to identify and prioritize food safety research needs for leafy greens," said David, referring to the International Lettuce and Leafy Greens Food Safety Research Meeting. "Those practical, in-field research needs still exist: to establish control strategies that growers and handlers can use to prevent, detect and eliminate contamination events.  Those needs exist for many fresh produce commodities, not just leafy greens, and members of United Fresh are willing to work with ARS researchers to ensure their research is well targeted and will enable even safer production of fresh produce."

With over 2,000 scientists in 100 research locations, ARS is USDA's chief scientific research agency, responsible for finding solutions to agricultural problems from field to table.