<p>A group of people who have been sickened by foodborne illness outbreaks involving leafy greens gathered to visit California farmers who grow such products. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“While our two groups may appear to be at odds, the fact is -- both of us are focused on the common goal of ensuring people don’t get sick from eating healthy products like leafy greens,” said Deirdre Schlunegger, CEO of STOP Foodborne Illness.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/62357996?byline=0&portrait=0" width="500" height="375" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The group from STOP visited farms and processing facilities in San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria, California. They met with farmers, handlers, processors and food safety experts; visited leafy greens farms; watched leafy greens being harvested and packaged and had numerous meetings with industry members to learn about the production of leafy greens and hear about the food safety practices currently in place. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Members of the group also saw a demonstration of the mandatory government audit which is at the heart of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA). The LGMA has been in place since 2007 to verify through government audit that a set of science-based food safety practices are being followed on leafy greens farms.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“We wanted this group to see the systems in place for California leafy greens that help to prevent people from becoming sick,” said Scott Horsfall, CEO of the LGMA. “But we also really wanted to hear their stories and to learn about the concerns of people who have been impacted by foodborne illness.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Lauren Bush, who was sickened in the 2006 E. coli outbreak said, “After what I saw this week, I can definitely tell other consumers that steps are being taken by California leafy greens farmers to protect others from getting sick.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><iframe width="500" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nzU6BJzIylA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.caleafygreens.ca.gov/" target="_new">LGMA</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
