Western Growers (WG) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to improve proactive, science-based food safety standards to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks linked to produce.

The goal of the collaboration is to create opportunities for FDA and WG to foster a better understanding of safe practices in the growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of fresh produce. The MOU is aligned with FDA’s goals in the new Reagan-Udall Foundation’s Roadmap to Produce Safety, which advocates for a shared responsibility to food safety between the public and private sectors, driven by structured, stakeholder-led collaborations.

The MOU establishes a food safety data-sharing pilot project for fresh produce—including data such as pathogen testing results—using WG’s proprietary GreenLink food safety data-sharing platform. The MOU also establishes a broader framework for ongoing data-sharing between WG and FDA.

“We are building partnerships to increase data-sharing between FDA and the industry,” said Kyle Diamantis, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at FDA. “With these data, FDA can identify the factors that might contribute to contamination, such as land use surrounding the farm, the age and condition of equipment, and how produce is transported.”

Drawing on successful data-sharing programs in other areas, such as FDA’s seafood safety initiative, the effort aims to create a sustainable model that protects public health by advancing food safety knowledge, fostering preventive food safety behaviors, supporting resource management for public health agencies, and minimizing supply chain disruptions.