The U.S. Department of Agriculture has terminated the proposed National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, according to an announcement in the December 5 Federal Register. The proposed agreement would have established a voluntary program that would have included mandatory compliance for its signatories under the authority of the Act. The agreement would have authorized the development and implementation of handling audit metrics consistent with the FDA’s good production, handling and manufacturing practices. Signatory handlers would have been required to only handle domestic and imported leafy green vegetables that met the audit requirements established under the agreement. The program would have been overseen by the Agricultural Marketing Service and would have been financed by assessments collected from signatory first handlers. Proponents anticipated that the proposed agreement would help minimize the potential for microbial contamination in production and handling systems and improve consumer confidence in leafy green vegetables in the United States market.

Industry leaders suggest that with the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and the amount of time that has transpired since the initial proposal (4-5 years ago), too much had changed in the arena of produce food safety for a national program to be relevant.