TESTING TO INNOVATE Redefining Food Safety Data’s Role By Joelle Mosso, Associate Vice President, Science Programs
For 100 years, Western Growers has stood alongside its members, supporting the advancement of agriculture through leadership and innovation. From navigating historic challenges to embracing modern solutions, that legacy continues today through initiatives like GreenLink®, a platform that redefines how food safety data supports public health and long-term industry viability. Western Growers and its members have made a significant investment in the future of food safety for fresh produce through the development of the data- sharing platform, GreenLink®. More important than the GreenLink® platform itself is how the effort has been made and what it represents. GreenLink® came about proactively, looking for pathways leading to a prevention-based, less reactive food safety strategy than we have today. It is grower-led, with Western Growers members quietly investing time, money, expertise and optimism to innovate more effective approaches to public health protection and long-term industry viability. GreenLink® was adopted without a known guarantee of success, and, as with most experiments, it has a certain element of risk associated with it. That can be scary and intimidating. But what often is forgotten when forging out into a new unknown is that the status quo isn’t totally safe either. In fact, we know from the current system that it increasingly leads to unfavorable food safety, litigation and regulatory outcomes. Recognizing that today’s status quo isn’t free from risk puts more emphasis on the value and potential reward of identifying a new, more effective system. Using GreenLink®, Western Growers and its members are
investing in defining a more sustainable solution for fresh produce food safety, one that will improve public health outcomes while also offering pragmatic business outcomes in years going forward. Facing uncertainty isn’t new for growers. Each day, this committed and resilient community chooses the uncertain path—the path controlled by often uncontrollable factors like weather, water and fluctuating markets, all in the effort to grow nutritious food and to be stewards of our soils for future generations. Risk is not an exception in agriculture— it is the norm. Growers innovating within that risk have developed a certain sort of specialty, strength and resilience. GreenLink® started in 2022 , anchored by a committed group determined to design a different and more improved future for fresh produce safety. Today, that effort has ushered in over 400 growers’ product and water data, houses three established data sharing programs—one run by Western Growers, one managed with the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA) and one joint program with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There are also many more programs in the pipeline, with three in near development. Overall, the system and programs have built improved data structure, expanded relevant data points for enhanced learnings, optimized analysis for patterns worth exploring and built community around learnings and next steps.
• Collecting irrigation water & tissue testing data across numerous commodities, areas • Individual dashboards for analytics & visualizations • Additional layers in development for augmented analysis & prediction WG Food Safety Data Sharing Program • A CA LGMA program for romaine beginning in 2023 and currently extended to 2027 • All tested romaine in the LGMA program is reported with associated metadata to drive analysis • Minimum standards for testing type (sample mass, acreage, target organisms) • Focused exploration into learnings are being used to improve industry practices and metrics CA LGMA Test & Learn • A first of its kind data sharing program between the leafy green industry and FDA • Collaborative project for joint learnings & discussion WG & FDA MOU • Root Cause Assessment program in partnership with the Healthy People One Health 2023 group • Environmental Monitoring Program for Stone Fruit • Area Index System (AIS™) to build comprehensive risk management system Projects in the pipeline
14 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com April – June 2026
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease