Dive Brief:

• The USDA has decided to walk away from the proposed National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, which would have created a food-safety regimen for the vegetables to be run by the industry and overseen by USDA and the FDA.
• The decision comes as the entire food industry awaits final rules related to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA.). 
• The move ends a four-year process in which industry sought to craft, and win approval for, new national safety standards on the handling of the vegetables.

Dive Insight:

In essence, the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement was an attempt to extend the safety protocols and certification processes used by California's Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement to the national level. And as these things go, the California system is a very good one (Arizona growers also sign on to the California LGMA. That translates into near total compliance among large scale producers in the U.S.)  And over the years we've seen reports that the FDA has spent a fair amount of time studying the California agreement in hope of learning best practices. 

After the USDA announced its decision, the folks at the California's Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement issued a statement saying their hope is that the FDA will now recognize LGMA-certified growers as being in compliance with the new FSMA rules. Our hope is that those new FSMA rules -- when and if they are ever finished -- closely track what the folks at LGMA have learned about food safety.