In September 2006, a major foodborne illness outbreak linked to California spinach contaminated with Escherichia coli (E. coli) left 204 people sick and 3 dead. This outbreak motivated the California leafy greens industry to develop a new food safety program. The California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement, commonly known as the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA), went into effect in 2007, the first of a new generation of commodity-specific food safety programs to address microbial contamination in the produce industry. If firms decide to participate in the voluntary LGMA, they must implement a minimum standard of field-level food safety practices; compliance is enforced by mandatory third-party audits. The LGMA estimates that 99 percent of the total State production of leafy greens is covered by the agreement. Leafy greens under the LGMA include arugula, baby leaf lettuce, spring mix, butter lettuce, cabbage (red, green, and savoy), chard, kale, endive, escarole, green leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce, red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, and spinach.
The outbreak also motivated retail and foodservice buyers to increase their demands for food safety to reduce their own risk of being associated with a contaminated product. In addition, this outbreak led some in the produce industry to advocate, for the first time, for Federal regulation of food safety. In 2011, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law.
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