CONSUMERS

How safe is your salad? Follow produce from Yuma, Arizona, to your grocery store

A deadly e-coli outbreak in a spinach crop 10 years ago changed the industry's approach

Robert Anglen
The Republic | azcentral.com

 

Migrant workers harvest iceberg lettuce at JV Farms in Yuma, Ariz. Wherever you live in North America, chances are the lettuce you eat in the winter comes from the Yuma area.

YUMA —  Sunlight punches a hole through the early-morning sky, then is quickly obscured by clouds. In a field below, a mechanized platform in constant motion seems to hover above a cabbage crop, its steel frame appearing almost alien among the symmetrical leafy green rows.

The harvester, with its cutting tables, washing stations and conveyor belts, hums with functionality and efficiency.

Workers walking behind and in front of it hack off the cabbage heads, snatching them from the ground, cutting off excess debris and tossing them onto the loader. Knives flash, water sluices, wheels roll through furrows. 

But a drop of blood, a piece of trash, a trace of animal feces can halt the harvest. A cut hand, a missing blade, an animal print in the dirt can result in either the loss of a crop in a section of ground or a whole field.

 All in the name of food safety.

Wherever you live in North America, if you are eating a salad at home or in a restaurant from January through March, chances are the lettuce came from the Yuma area.

Yuma is the nation's largest supplier of winter greens — lettuce, cabbage, spinach, kale, spring mix and more.

The speed of the process often astonishes those outside the industry. In some cases, leafy greens picked one day could end up on your plate the next. They are harvested, packaged and shipped from the field directly to the store.

Before the fork gets to your mouth, lots of effort is put forth to assure the produce is safe. After E. coli outbreaks jolted the nation and industry a decade ago, the nation's food-safety net tightened up.

The process starts in the field before the seed is planted, with soil samples, water tests and field inspections.  And it continues through the harvest with rigid inspections, equipment audits and checklists. After the greens are loaded onto trucks, the inspections don't end.

"Most people don't think about food safety ... They take it for granted," said Vicki Scott, director of quality assurance at Amigo Farms in Yuma. "They have this belief that their food, water and air are safe without thinking about it."

The food-safety net has been woven by individuals, private companies and government agencies, growers, buyers, the Arizona Department of Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration, among others.

Ten years ago, no uniform standards existed for leafy greens coming out of the field. It was up to the industry to police itself, and the consequences were deadly.

"It was an honor system," Scott said. "And (safety) depended on how your farm approached that."

Farm workers harvest cabbage at Amigo Farms in Yuma, Ariz. Greens harvested from fields can reach a consumer's plate in 24 hours -- a timeframe that may astonish those outside the agriculture industry.

Workers, most of them Mexican citizens transported by bus from the border to the fields each day, are schooled in food safety. They can't work if they have the flu or another communicable disease. They can't eat, drink or spit in the field. They must wear hairnets and gloves. No jewelry beyond simple wedding bands is allowed. Nothing can be carried in upper pockets. Workers are assigned numbered tools. 

The cabbage field on Amigo's Y-2 farm is about 3.5 acres and will take about seven hours to harvest.Before workers take up their stations around the harvester, a field supervisor walks the field's perimeter looking for animal incursions; tracks, feces, chewed leaves, bird droppings. Migrating birds have been known to destroy an entire field if they decide to roost there overnight.

That done, the supervisor moves on to the equipment, working off a checklist before giving the green light.

An E. coli outbreak in 2006 changed the leafy-green industry's approach to food safety. Three people died and 205 were sickened in 26 states.

An investigation by the Food and Drug Administration ultimately traced the outbreak to Dole brand baby spinach farmed in California. But before the source could be confirmed, and as more victims went to emergency rooms across the country, the FDA sent a message: Don't eat spinach.

The FDA didn't specify a brand or a region or a date. It simply warned consumers that spinach wasn't safe. Overnight, grocery stores purged their shelves and restaurants altered their menus. And the spinach industry lost an entire crop. Spinach was left to rot in the field. What already had been picked was destroyed.

For the first time, an outbreak involving a single crop at one farm had damning economic consequences for all growers.

Arizona Department of Agriculture Market Inspecto Juan C. Ley (left) makes a scheduled audit at Amigo Farms. Ley inspects fields,  farm equipment and support facilities. He also interviews workers. The process can take more than six hours.

Produce growers, who had long resisted government oversight and the need for industrywide safety standards, found themselves facing calls for state and federal regulation and demands for public accountability.

"It put a shock through the industry," said Scott Horsfall, executive director of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. "It seared these people."

The LGMA, whose members are companies that grow and ship leafy greens, was the industry's answer to the outcry, and in many ways it forestalled legislation and strict government mandates.

The California LGMA was established in 2007. Arizona followed later that year with a nearly identical agreement.

The agreements established a certification program that required members to follow specific guidelines from soil preparation through harvest, according to Horsfall.

The program, which was developed with the help of university scientists, agricultural specialists, food-safety industry experts and government oversight agencies, created protocols for every aspect of the process. They covered pesticides, irrigation, field workers, equipment, storage and transportation.

The agreements were supported by produce buyers and retailers who were looking for ways to ensure customers that their commodities were safe. Grocery chains signed agreements to buy only from LGMA-certified growers.

The California and Arizona LGMAs were among several industry-driven initiatives as a result the 2006 outbreak. The Center for Produce Safety, which provides and shares research on food safety, also launched in 2007.

The LGMAs included a powerful enforcement mechanism: a series of scheduled and surprise inspections called farm audits.

Juan Ley, an Arizona Department of Agriculture produce inspector, starts his review of the cabbage field in the least likely place: the portable toilets.

Ley is a certified auditor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He performs market and shipping inspections for the state and conducts farm audits for the Arizona LGMA. His December visit to Amigo's Y-2 farm is scheduled.

His methodology combines observation with direct questions and reviews of logs. The audit process easily can last six hours. Ley can't shut down field operations, but his findings can affect the future of any farm and result in a flurry of corrective actions that could threaten LGMA certification.

He works off a checklist.  He looks inside each portable toilet, notes the cleaning log, checks soap dispensers, water flow and paper towels. He makes sure signs are posted notifying workers they must wash their hands. Then he moves into the field.

Southwest Arizona and the Imperial Valley, its California cousin on the other side of the Colorado River, is known as America's Salad Bowl.

The Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association reports that local farmers "produce enough iceberg lettuce each year for every person in the United States, Canada and Mexico to have their very own head of lettuce — with enough lettuce left for every person in the United Kingdom to have one, too."

Yuma's winter greens season typically lasts from October plantings  to March, but the economic impact lasts all year long. The association says on its website that agriculture contributes $2.5 billion to Yuma’s economy and accounts for 25 percent of employment in Yuma County.

The California and Arizona LGMAs boast their members represent more than 90 percent of shippers in both states and are responsible for producing about 90 percent of leafy greens in the United States.

The agreements are supported through fees paid by shippers, which enforce the food-safety standards on growers. "These shippers are ultimately responsible for the entire process of farming, harvesting and shipping to buyers," according to the Arizona LGMA website.

MORE: 10 easy tips to keep your salad fresh

The Arizona LGMA is administered by the state Department of Agriculture, which tracks cartons of produce, monitors fees paid by members based on the amount of produce shipped, tracks audit compliance and distributes food-safety kits.

Audit findings can range from minor infractions to major ones that must be corrected within five days. Most shippers have compliance officers to ensure infractions are addressed. Failure to comply with an audit can result in membership certification being revoked.

Shippers that don't belong to the LGMA are small operators and don't likely sell sell leafy greens to major retailers and restaurants, Horsfall said. Non-members also can't ship to Canada, since any produce crossing the border requires LGMA certification.

A shipper, or produce handler, must have 100 percent compliance in order to stay certified, Horsfall said.

"The handler is the gatekeeper," he said. "Farmers sell to a lot of different handlers."

Ley clomps over cabbage furrows, stepping through the harvested remains. He surveys the tractor pulling the harvester, looking for leaks and emissions. The machinery doesn't slow down while he works.

On the platform, he inspects chlorine levels for the wash, using pH test strips to test water ratios. He pulls aside workers and questions them in Spanish about procedures and what they've been told.

What do you do if you touch food? How do you prepare in the morning? How do you disinfect hands? 

"If you get a cut, what do you do?"  Ley asks. 

"Report it," a worker says. "Move out of the line."

The professional agreements, audits and safety procedures haven't fully eliminated E. coli and other pathogens from sickening the public.

A 2013 outbreak that sickened KFC, Taco Bell, Burger King and Pizza Hut customers in Canada was traced to a California LGMA member farm.

The Canadian Food and Inspection Agency traced the source of the outbreak to winter lettuce that had been sold to a Toronto distributor.

According to public health records and media accounts, 24 people in multiple provinces were stricken with the bacteria, which is transmitted through contact with animal or human feces. Symptoms range from severe diarrhea to kidney failure.

This was the second outbreak traced to a California LGMA member in as many years. In 2012, Canadian health officials said they traced tainted lettuce to Amazing Coachella Inc., in Riverside County.

"We're not perfect," Horsfall said. "But I would say these are relatively small outbreaks that have been traced to our products."

Horsfall said an outbreak doesn't automatically result in decertification. He said the LGMA conducts an internal investigation in tandem with ones conducted by public health agencies. He said the LGMA reviews audit reports to ensure the member was in compliance and seeks to better understand what went wrong.

"We are trying to deal with every conceivable risk out there," he said, adding that great strides have been made in the past decade in understanding pathogens. "We have addressed gaps in our knowledge ... and we don't see the kind of multi-state outbreaks."

Arizona Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control records show there were 152 food-borne outbreaks in the state between 2011 and 2015. Of those, 69 occurred in a restaurant and nine were linked to food. Only one was traced to lettuce.

In July 2013, about 94 people contracted E. coli after eating at a Federico's Mexican Restaurant in Litchfield Park. At least two people were hospitalized and the restaurant was temporarily closed.

Migrant workers harvest iceberg lettuce at JV Farms in Yuma, Ariz. Wherever you live in North America, chances are the lettuce you eat in the winter comes from the Yuma area. The Yuma Fresy Vegetable Association says that local farmers "produce enough iceburg lettuce each year for every person in the United States, Canada and Mexico to have their very own head of lettuce."

Health inspectors did not find E. coli in tests of food samples.

"As the case-control study results were analyzed, lettuce became the most highly suspect food item," county health officials wrote in their final report. "Lettuce has been associated with previous E. coli outbreaks ... as it is a natural, uncooked food product, and washing does not completely eliminate bacterial contamination."

Heath inspectors documented how easily the pathogen could have spread.

"If contamination had been present on a small amount of lettuce, it could have easily spread to contaminate other lettuce in areas such as the prep sink and shredder, or during storage in a large container," health officials reported. "For example, dirt from the outside of lettuce heads could have been washed into the prep sink and spread to other clean lettuce sitting in the sink. The bacteria could have continued to spread during the shredding and storage process."

The health department did not name the source of the lettuce and noted the restaurant's supplier also served other Valley restaurants and no other cases of E. coli were reported, indicating the contamination occurred at the restaurant.

To prevent future outbreaks, the restaurant adopted new protocols for storing, washing and handling lettuce.

During his audit, Ley finds minor problems at Amigo's temporary equipment yard. This is where shipping containers are prepared and cleaned. It's away from the field, but close enough to keep the cycle of flatbeds used to haul produce flowing.

Storage bins are assembled and lined with plastic, fork-lifted onto trucks, then driven to the harvester and filled with the fresh cabbage. The cabbage is driven to a processing facility, or "the cooler," where it is stored until being delivered to stores and restaurants.

Arizona Department of Agriculture Inspector Juan C. Ley (left) examies a water-storage tank at Amigo Farms in Yuma, Ariz.

Ley discovers two water-storage tanks are labeled with the same number. It means auditors won't be able to tell which records belong to which tank. He also has questions about soap-to-water ratios used in cleaning equipment. Amigo's rules call for following manufacturer's instructions, but there are none.

These are minor issues, and easily corrected. Back at Amigo's offices, Ley begins a painstaking review of the farm books. He asks about pesticide reports, water tests, fertilizers and composts. He checks the company's food safety plan, inspection reports, operating procedures, sanitation procedures. The list is long.

When Ley is finished, he drives to the cooler to inspect procedures involving the bins. Then he will go back to his office and write up his report, which will go to the farm and the state and LGMA.

"Some days you see more stuff than others," Ley says, adding that each crew is different. "But they are all getting a lot better."

There has never been a leafy-green outbreak traced back to a Yuma farm.

University researchers and Arizona LGMA members attribute the phenomenon to several factors, including  Arizona's sunlight and ultraviolet rays, the short growing season and the lack of humidity.

The warm, dry climate doesn't invite pathogens the way other places do, said Paula Rivadeneira, a microbiologist and assistant professor at the University of Arizona Yuma Agriculture Center.

"We have never ever had an outbreak sourced to Yuma," she said.

Migrant workers harvest iceberg lettuce at JV Farms in Yuma, Ariz. Wherever you live in North America, chances are the lettuce you eat in the winter comes from the Yuma area.

Rivadeneira said growers and producers are much more aware of the consequences of an outbreak, to the point where they will abandon an entire field to eliminate potential problems.

It happened last month.

Rivadeneira, whose nickname is "Paula the poop doctor," was called to inspect a field after feces was found in a bed of lettuce. Rules call for a five-foot buffer around the scat, and sometimes that's enough to contain the hazard. But Rivadeneira said she also discovered a coyote was tracking the deer.

The field was contracted to an unspecified restaurant chain. Based on the animal incursion, the buyer made the decision to abandon the field altogether.

"It was several acres,150 beds of Romaine lettuce," Rivadeneira said. "Some buyers are very, very strict."

Rivadeneira said animal incursion represents one potential threat to food safety. The threat grows once produce is harvested, she said.

"There is a much bigger risk of amplification after it comes out of the ground," she said. "The number of people to touch produce increases (risk)."

Once the cabbage is dropped off at the processing plant or shipped from the field directly to retailers, the LGMA no longer oversees the crop. 

Food safety falls under the control of federal, state and county agencies with overlapping regulations. Generally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversees the processing plant and transportation to stores and restaurants, where county health agencies are responsible for local health inspections.

FDA officials won't comment on the inspection process, providing their written guidelines instead. They stress it is the industry's responsibility to adhere to regulations that cover everything from the temperature of coolers and trucks to the labeling of products. 

Equipment, transportation, production and process controls are covered in the guidelines.

New, sweeping federal food-safety standards are in the works.

The Food Safety Modernization Act, which was passed in 2011, calls for enforcement starting in 2017. But industry experts say it likely will be years before the law is fully implemented.

On its website, the FDA describes the act  as "the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years." The goal: "to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it."

The idea behind the act was to create a federal set of standards that apply across the board to all growers and shippers, regardless of product. The rules will cover everything from farm production to processing, transportation and even importers.

Rivadeneira and others said the law exempts small producers with annual revenues of less than $500,000. It also exempts operators who sell more than 50 percent of their products within 400 miles of their farms.

LGMA officials say they are ahead of the law and that the new law copies much of the standards covered in the leafy-green farm audits.

"Generally, the LGMA goes above and beyond FSMA," Horsfall said.

Alicia Choquette buys lettuce at a Bashas' grocery store. Many of the greens on grocery store shelves come from Yuma, Ariz., during the winter months.

 

Stores and restaurants mark the next-to-last stop for the cabbage in this Yuma field, and oversight continues there.

For example, Arizona-based Bashas’ grocery stores ship all produce from its own distribution center using its own fleet to ensure quality control. Store officials say before any produce is accepted, it is inspected carefully.

"Inspectors verify temperature, inspect the trailer for potential cross contamination and infestation, and perform a thorough inspection of the product, including opening cases, physically handling items and cutting open produce," Ralph Woodward, Bashas' chief compliance officer, said.

Woodward says all of the company's producers are required to comply with FSMA and the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement. 

Produce is again inspected at the store and goes through a vegetable wash before it is stocked for customers.  

"We understand the critical importance of food safety throughout the supply-chain process," Woodward says.

That's not quite the end of the journey, however. Before the cabbage ends up on the end of your fork, there's one last step you can take to ensure food safety:

Wash it. 

The food industry has spent millions of dollars since 2011 to comply with new federal food-safety standards.

Industry officials say they don't expect to see any significant reversal of the Food Safety Modernization Act under President Donald Trump's Republican administration.

Some parts of the sweeping new law might be "tweaked," but the standards will remain intact, said Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas in Nogales.

"I don't see how the current political landscape is going to change the need for food safety," he said, adding that some flaws in the law might be addressed "but I don't think there is going to be a need to roll back FSMA."

The association represents 100 companies involved in the growth, harvest, marketing, import and distribution of Mexican produce. Jungmeyer said the food industry has worked hard to comply with the law, including new training and the hiring of food-safety compliance officers.

Vicki Scott, director of quality assurance at Amigo Farms in Yuma, said companies have spent years restructuring in anticipation of the new law. She said the final piece is enforcement, which is supposed to begin in 2018.

"The idea was to educate before they regulate," she said.

Scott said she doubts that the Trump administration would scrap the new law but acknowledged there is some trepidation among insiders, who are taking a wait-and-see approach.

The same is true for labor concerns, Scott said.

Scott said growers have so far been unaffected by executive orders regarding border security or the proposed wall.

Yuma depends on workers from Mexico to plant and harvest crops. Arizona's employment verification system requires workers to obtain work permits to get jobs on this side of the border.

"So far we're seeing normal border wait times for people to get across," she said. "They are allowed to cross the border and work for us."

Scott said some workers have expressed concerns about stricter rules, primarily because they could affect their family members. She said some employees are anxious to help relatives get their paperwork processed as soon as possible.

Trump has not made any announcement about changing the work permit system for farm laborers, but any such policy could dramatically affect Yuma.

"If he does away with work cards, we could be in trouble," Scott said.

Greens harvest in Yuma, Ariz., can make it to grocery store shelves in 24 hours. A slew of private companies, government officials and individuals work together to ensure produce is safe to eat.