Food Safety Practices and Costs Under the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement

This case study investigates food safety practices and costs for seven firms participating in the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA), formally known as the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement. All firms incorporated additional food safety practices into their food safety plans beyond LGMA requirements, for their own convenience, risk management needs, and/or to satisfy buyer requests. It was difficult to quantify food safety costs; the analysis concentrated on costs for five food safety practices. The cost-share for each practice—the cost of the individual practice divided by the total cost of the five practices—provides insight into the relative cost of food safety practices. The value of the food safety staff (including clerical staff) time in food safety tasks was relatively large—38 percent of the five costs. Another 32 percent of costs was for the food safety time of harvest foremen. Audits accounted for 17 percent, product unharvested due to animal intrusion for 11 percent, and water testing for 2 percent of costs. This analysis can increase understanding of the relative food safety costs for firms under the Food Safety Modernization Act.