USDA Termination of the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement is in Accordance with Expectations

The USDA has announced it is terminating the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. Though this is now officially coming to fruition, it has been expected in the wake of efforts with the Food Safety Modernization Act.

Scott Horsfall, Chief Executive Officer, California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, tells AndNowUKnow, "We believe the USDA’s action is appropriate in terminating the agreement. A lot has changed since the NLGMA program was created, with large part due to the Food Safety Modernization Act. The termination will in no way affect California and Arizona's leafy greens marketing agreement.”

The proposed NLGMA was to be operated with USDA oversight and would utilize government auditors to verify a set of science-based food safety practices was being followed on leafy greens farms throughout the nation, according to a press release. The California LGMA was in support of this program along with Western Growers, the Farm Bureau and several other farm groups.

Four years ago the effort commenced to develop the NLGMA which would allow leafy greens producers in other states to voluntarily sign on to a food safety program similar to the one here in California.

LGMA members implement food safety practices every day on the farm and are audited five times a year. Between California and Arizona LGMA members nearly 50,000,000,000 servings of leafy greens are produced annually.

NLGMA