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Vegetable Growers Cite Safety Concerns Over Livestock Proximity

E. coli Outbreaks Often Traced to Nearby Livestock Operations

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 30, 2007

Food Safety • Emergency Regs Needed for Tracking Produce, Food Groups Say • Nebraska Beef Recall Expanded to 5.3 Million Pounds • Consumer Group Presses Feds to Fix Food System • Kroger Expands Ground Beef Recall • Salmonella Outbreak is Biggest Ever Tied to Produce • E. coli Outbreak May Be Linked To Kroger Ground Beef • Salmonella: Trickier Than Imagined • Congressional Report Faults FDA Inaction • Tomatoes Off the Menu as Feds Search for Source • FDA 'Inaction' Blamed for Salmonella Outbreak • Restaurants Shun Tomatoes In Wake Of Salmonella Outbreak • FDA Warns Of Tomato-Linked Salmonella • USDA Bans Downer Cow Slaughter • CDC Links 2006 Salmonella Outbreak to Dog Food --- • More ...

Nearly a year after contaminated fresh spinach led to a nationwide E. coli outbreak, a conclusive cause of the outbreak has yet to be found.

Growers meeting this week in Chicago say putting greater distance between food and livestock operations would go a long way toward reducing the problem.

There have been 22 E. coli outbreaks involving leafy green vegetables since 1995.

Recent federal studies in the Salinas Valley region of California, where as much as 80 percent of the country’s leafy green vegetables are grown, have found a link between the E.coli found in the vegetables and nearby cattle ranches. Yet government officials haven’t been able to determine how close a farm can be to a ranch before it poses a risk.

“How far is far enough from a dairy operation?” asked David Gombas, senior vice president at the United Fresh Produce Association. “Is it 20 feet? 200 feet? What will the minimum distance be? What we’re lacking right now is the research to determine what the right number is.”

Gombas and others attending the the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo say the government needs to offer specific guidelines for separating vegetable farms from those raising livestock.

Robert Mandrell, of the USDA’s produce safety and microbiology research unit, was involved in the E.coli outbreak study, and agrees that more research needs to be done. He sees value in having regulators and researchers meet with members of the industry to share information about food safety.

But he’s skeptical about how forthcoming growers and processors will be, often viewing their growing and handling processes as proprietary.

“They don’t necessarily want to tell us what they’re doing,” Mandrell said. “But the industry should want to share. If one of them makes a major error, they all suffer.”

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