California Agricultural Neighbors
California Agricultural Neighbors
(Scroll down for information on California Longitudinal Study)
California Agricultural Neighbors (CAN) was established in 2021 in response to continued outbreaks of pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 associated with leafy greens in the Salinas Valley. California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and Monterey County Farm Bureau (MCFB) have led efforts to foster collaboration and discussion to protect public health through efforts shared among the production, processing, retail industry, agricultural industry, and regulatory entities to address the following action items:
Action 1: Foster Neighbor-to-Neighbor Interactions and Conversations
Action 2: Build a Research Roadmap for the Salinas Valley
Action 3: Create a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) Framework
Action 4: Build and Maintain Capacity to Transfer Knowledge from Research into Applied Practice
Action 5: Develop a Scientific Engagement and Communication Work Group to champion and help facilitate clear producer and industry information, next steps, and action regarding food safety practices given emerging scientific information from the California Longitudinal Study (CALS) and previous research
CAN brought together vested stakeholders within the Salinas Valley agriculture community in discussions surrounding farm and rangeland management practices and potential risks for exposure to field-grown crops adjacent to rangeland, compost operations, or vineyards. A year-long commitment of CAN Dialogue Group engagement led to the published CAN Action Report in June 2022, with a follow-up Action Report in 2024 detailing outcomes and work product.
Work Groups were formed around the first four actions after the 2022 Action Report, with participation from field crop growers, rangeland managers, vineyard managers, compost operators, agricultural organizations, and food safety acadamia and government agency representatives. This collaborative effort has led to insights about risk intersections, informational gaps, and the need for extensive research into food pathogen persistence in the environment, transmission of those pathogens through various pathways, and preventative measures that can be put into practice.
Collaboratively with researchers and agency partners, CAN works to further the prevention of fresh food adulteration in production fields and the supply chain through sound science and practices. While there will never be an achievement of 100% prevention, the science will show how all facets of production agriculture can manage identified food safety risks.
CAN is a collaboration of the California Department of Food & Agriculture and Monterey County Farm Bureau.
CAN efforts are supported through the California Farm Bureau, California Cattlemen’s Association, Western Growers Association, and the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement to help with facilitation services provided by RESOLVE.
CAN was formed with three key goals in mind:
- Identify practices for agriculture neighbors that can potentially help enhance food safety and improve public health and trust.
- Document the broader challenges of the California regulatory landscape that impacts produce growers, cattle ranchers, vineyard managers, compost processors, and wildlife management differently, and that may result in regulatory silos with competing or conflicting demands with produce food safety practices.
- Develop accurate messaging to enhance education and adoption of continuously improving food safety practices founded in science, while acknowledging that simple neighborly courtesy measures of communication can have beneficial, lasting impacts.
CAN helped create the foundation for a food safety framework throughout California by enhancing communication among the agricultural communities through scientific insights and enhanced food safety education and action.
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) developed a retail Employee Health Policy Tool to encourage practices that can help prevent the transmission of foodborne viruses and bacteria in food establishments from ill employees. This tool will help users navigate restriction and exclusion requirements identified in Part 2-201 of the 2022 FDA Food Code using clickable pathways dependent upon the role of the user and the symptoms and/or diagnoses presented.
CAN held three webinars on topics identified as needing more expert information and background; click the following links to view the recorded webinars hosted by the California Farm Bureau Federation in partnership with the Monterey County Farm Bureau and CDFA:
Reservoirs of E. coli O157:H7 and other STEC – presented on June 30, 2021 – view the video of this webinar here
Off-farm factors that may affect STEC movement on the landscape – presented on July 7, 2021 – view the video of this webinar here
On-farm factors that may affect STEC survival and contact with produce – presented on July 14. 2021 – view the video of this webinar here