FDA Announces Targeted Sampling, Additional Efforts to Enhance the Safety of Leafy Greens

On September 8, 2022, the FDA announced its continued commitment to enhancing the safety of leafy greens. As part of this effort, the FDA is announcing a targeted sampling of leafy greens grown on farms and ranches during the fall 2022 harvest season in the Salinas Valley region of California. One key of the LGAP is sampling efforts to detect and prevent contaminated products from reaching consumers. This will help leafy greens growers and processors identify practices or conditions that may present microbial risks so they can strengthen the microbiological safety of their operations. During the fall 2022 harvest season, the FDA plans to collect about 240 lettuce samples at farms/ranches in the Salinas Valley. In recent years, traceback investigations identified these farms/ranches as potentially associated with a foodborne illness outbreak in which lettuce or leafy greens were the likely or suspect food vehicle. All samples will be tested for Salmonella spp. and E. coli O157:H7, and sampling will begin in mid-September 2022 and run through October 2022. In 2021 the FDA detected a Salmonella enterica in one green leaf sample and STEC in two other samples. Over the next two months, multi-disciplinary food safety experts across the FDA will visit leafy greens producers in California to learn more about leafy greens operations. Recent outbreaks have raised concerns about the sanitary design of harvest equipment and how field production and processing practices may contribute to contamination.  @ https://www.fda.gov/food/cfsan-constituent-updates/fda-announces-targeted-sampling-additional-efforts-enhance-safety-leafy-greens