The California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA) has initiated a two-year food safety study called ‘Romaine Test & Learn.’ Approved unanimously by the LGMA Advisory Board, the study involves collecting and analyzing LGMA members’ pathogen test data for romaine lettuce including both pre-harvest and post-harvest testing.

“Romaine Test & Learn represents the most significant change the LGMA has made to benefit food safety since its inception,” says Jan Berk, LGMA chair. “This program will allow our members’ individual testing data to collectively provide meaningful, aggregated data to better understand potential risks.”

Romaine Test & Learn was inspired by the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing program used to revolutionize commercial aviation through aggregation and sharing of safety data.

“The airline safety model shows us that sharing data can improve safety,” says Tim York, LGMA CEO. “That is why we are embarking on this project – to make lettuce even safer for consumers to enjoy.”

Although testing is not mandatory for LGMA members, anyone who does testing will be required to meet minimum protocols for collecting and testing samples. It is estimated that more than 90 per cent of LGMA members conduct romaine lettuce pathogen testing. This project will collect and analyze all their test data for the next two years.

California LGMA has partnered with Western Growers to use its GreenLink data sharing and data analytics platform.

Source:  Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement July 10, 2023 news release