Canadian agency recognized by LGMA

By The Packer Staff
Mon, 17 May 2010

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - If a Canadian retailer sells lettuce or other leafy greens grown in California, the grower must be member of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. 

By requiring that food safety certification, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was recognized with the marketing agreement’s Golden Checkmark Award at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association’s 85th annual convention and expo May 13. 

“The Golden Checkmark Award is a symbol of support and commitment to mandatory government inspection of food safety systems within the produce industry and we cannot think of an entity more deserving of this award than CFIA,” said Jamie Strachan, the LGMA’s chairman and chief executive officer and president of Grower Express LLC, Salinas, Calif., in a news release. 

Helen Zohar-Picciano, chief of fresh produce inspection for the CFIA, accepted the award from Strachan and LGMA chief executive officer Scott Horsfall. 

Since June 2007, shortly after California growers established the LGMA in response to a 2006 E. coli outbreak linked to spinach, the Canadian agency has mandated all California leafy green products be covered by the marketing agreement’s certification process. 

Almost 100% of the state’s leafy green grower-shippers and handlers are members of the program.
“This was a very important step in recognizing the LGMA as a comprehensive food safety program," said Horsfall. “This kind of action is helps enforce our program and it has been very beneficial to the LGMA’s efforts to protect public health. The LGMA is working to establish a culture of enhanced food safety on California leafy greens farms and we appreciate CFIA’s role in advancing the program’s success.” 

“Providing Canadian citizens with the safest food possible is the CFIA’s top priority, and one way we help to ensure that is by requiring certification by the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement,” Zohar-Picciano said in the release. 

Past recipients include California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.