The Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Production, Harvest, Post-Harvest, and Value-Added Operations of Green Onions, a new voluntary food safety guidance document for the production and harvest of green onions was released on Tuesday. A product of collaboration between United Fresh, the Western Growers Association and the Produce Marketing Association, the document was developed to strengthen the safety of the green onion supply chain.

The document was funded through the California Department of Food and Agriculture under the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and is based on work begun by the fresh produce industry in the summer of 2006 at the request of FDA. It is meant to augment green onion food safety efforts already underway in Mexico and Canada.

"Western Growers should be congratulated for leading this open and transparent process for developing consensus among all interested stakeholders," said United Fresh Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Technology Dr. David Gombas. "Like its predecessors for leafy greens, tomatoes and melons, the Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Production, Harvest, Post-Harvest, and Value-Added Operations of Green Onions will be an important tool in the industry's continued efforts to improve the safety of fresh produce."  

"The Guidelines for the Production and Harvest of Green Onions represent a substantial body of work that will provide a much needed general framework which growers, packers, distributors, marketers, regulators and consumers can use as the basis for evaluating the effectiveness of food safety controls used with the production of this fresh vegetable", said Dr. Robert Buchanan, director of the Center for Food Safety and Security Systems at the University of Maryland.

"This document presents the food safety best practices to be followed by green onion suppliers, and to be used as a purchasing requirement by customers. It establishes the level of performance, programs and procedures that, when adopted, will significantly increase the level of food safety across the green onion supply chain," added Dave Murphy, director of food safety and quality programs at Boskovich Farms, Inc. "Many of the most regarded experts in growing, processing and selling of green onions have collaborated on this document. I encourage everyone in our industry to take advantage of these guidelines in their operations."

The Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Production, Harvest, Post-Harvest, and Value-Added Operations of Green Onions can be downloaded by clicking here.