Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In response to increasing outbreak investigation results pointing to lettuce and
tomatoes as sources of foodborne illness, Dr. Robert Brackett of U.S. FDA/CFSAN
issued a letter in February 2004 to the entire lettuce and tomato supply chains express-
ing “serious concern” and expectations of the industry to enhance the safety of their
products (U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2004), stating:
Because fresh vegetables such as lettuce and tomatoes are commonly consumed
in their raw state without processing to reduce or eliminate pathogens, the
manner in which they are grown, harvested, sorted, packed, and distributed is
crucial to ensuring that the potential for microbial contamination is minimized,
thereby reducing the risk of illness to consumers.
In 1998, the FDA issued a Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards
for Fruits and Vegetables (available at http://www.foodsafety.gov/
dms/
prodguid.html), which discusses recommended good agricultural practices
(GAPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) that growers, packers and
shippers can undertake to address common risk factors in their operations and
thereby, minimize food safety hazards potentially associated with fresh produce.
We have worked in partnership with your industries in the U.S. and abroad since
that time to promote our recommendations and to advance the scientifi c knowl-
edge applicable to enhancing the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
In addition, in 2001, FDA made available a report prepared for the agency
under contract by the Institute for Food Technologists, “Analysis and Evaluation
of Preventive Control Measures for the Control and Reduction/Elimination of
Microbial Hazards on Fresh and Fresh-Cut Produce,” available at http://www.
cfsan.fda.gov/
∼
comm/ift3-toc.html. This report summarizes the current scien-
tifi c research relating to the various methods of eliminating or reducing patho-
gens, while maintaining fresh attributes, on whole and fresh- cut produce.
In view of continuing outbreaks associated with fresh lettuce and fresh toma-
toes, we strongly encourage fi rms in your industries to review their current
operations in light of the agency's guidance for minimizing microbial food
safety hazards in fresh lettuce and fresh tomatoes, as well as other available
information regarding pathogen reduction or elimination on fresh produce. We
further encourage these fi rms to consider modifying their operations accord-
ingly, to ensure that they are taking the appropriate measures to provide a safe
product to the consumer. Since the available information concerning some of
the recent outbreaks does not defi nitively identify the point of origin of the
contamination, we recommend that fi rms from the farm level through the dis-
tribution level undertake these steps.”
∼
In Nov. 4, 2005, Dr. Brackett wrote a second letter to California lettuce producers,
packers and shippers, urging them to reexamine and modify operations from the farm
through to distributors to ensure that consumers were provided with a safe product
(U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2005). Dr. Brackett's November letter noted that
the FDA was aware of 18 outbreaks of foodborne illness since 1995 caused by
E. coli
O157:H7 in which fresh or fresh-cut lettuce was implicated as the outbreak vehicle.
In one additional case, fresh-cut spinach was implicated. These 19 outbreaks accounted
for 409 reported cases of illness and two deaths:
