Mar 15, 2016

Western Growers donates $1 million to produce safety research

Western Growers (WG) announced it’s $1 million donation to the Center for Produce Safety (CPS) to advance food safety research and develop ready-to-use solutions to improve the safety of fresh produce globally. WG’s contribution puts CPS over the $10 million mark for their Campaign for Produce Safety, which aims to raise $20 million by 2020 to fund critically needed, actionable food safety research.

“With nearly a decade of cooperation and collaboration between our two organizations, we are honored to help CPS reach the $10 million milestone in their fundraising campaign,” said Tom Nassif, Western Growers president and CEO. “The safety of consumers is a top priority for our industry which is why I encourage every farm-to-fork stakeholder to consider how they can further contribute to the development of the strongest food safety system in the world.”

CPS — a partnership between industry, government and academia — has supported more than 100 research projects and awarded more than $18 million to develop science-based solutions that prevent or minimize produce safety vulnerabilities since its inception in 2007. WG said CPS has discovered key findings that have led to improved safety practices including utilizing effective buffer zones as hazard management tools, validating the efficacy of the wash process and establishing controls that prevent Salmonella contaminants from developing tolerances to treatments.

CPS’ Campaign for Produce Safety, which publicly launched in September 2015, has reached the halfway mark of its fundraising goal.

For more information about the Campaign for Produce Safety, visit the CPS website.