<p><strong>Dinuba, CA</strong><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> California cantaloupe handlers have approved the state's first mandatory food safety program. The handlers voted in support of the program which is to be implemented by a commodity board, according to a press release. The California Department of Food and Agriculture announced that the handlers voted unanimously in favor of amending the existing California Cantaloupe Advisory Board to establish the new food safety program during the statewide referendum.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Steve Patricio, Chairman of the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board, states, “California cantaloupes have never been associated with a foodborne illness, yet the industry is unanimously in favor of a food safety program that will provide an additional layer of assurance for consumers that our product is safe.” He continues, “This program will formalize 20 years of food safety leadership by the California cantaloupe industry.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Mr. Patricio reflected that California cantaloupe handlers, who represent 70 percent of the cantaloupes grown in the U.S., have been working the Winter through, in preparation for the passage of these amendments. The board has been staying ahead of the game, already taking the steps to revise existing federally-approved food safety guidance for melons to make it specific to growing and packing conditions for California cantaloupe and also has been working to contract for science-based risk assessment by funding research through the Center for Food Safety.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> The California Cantaloupe Advisory Board will now include a food safety certification program that requires inspection to a set of production and handling metrics and will make it an unfair trade practice not to comply with the metrics. The new Board will affect all cantaloupes produced and marketed in the state, expanding from the previous order which included only cantaloupes grown to the north and west of the San Gorgonio Pass in Riverside County, California. Growing areas in the southern desert district will be added to the program, with the approved amendment.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> “It is just great to see the incredible amount of support for this food safety program” said Tim York, President of Markon Cooperatives, “Produce buyers across the country should support the efforts of suppliers who are willing to provide the additional assurances we have been asking for in light of last fall’s listeria outbreak associated with Jensen Farms cantaloupe. I applaud the efforts of California cantaloupe farmers to adopt this new system so quickly.” </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
