Nearly a decade ago, the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA) partnered with Stop Foodborne Illness to create a motivational training video for leafy greens producers. Their key video has recently been updated to include new content.

The video features the stories of two young women, Rylee Gustafson and Lauren Bush, who became seriously ill after eating spinach contaminated with Escherichia coli in 2006. The video also features Dan Sutton, a farmer who emphasizes to the women that he will share their stories to help make a difference. 

The video, titled, The Why Behind Food Safety, is shared before each food safety training class held by California LGMA to help those in the leafy greens farming community understand the importance of food safety. The award-winning video is used by food producers around the world, and transcends the produce industry. Several different versions of the original video are available on the LGMA YouTube page, including translations in Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. 

California LGMA and Stop Foodborne Illness have updated the original video to continue to tell the stories of Rylee, Lauren, and Dan. The updated video is available in English and English with Spanish subtitles, and can be used in tandem with the original version to drive home additional messages about food safety culture. 

In the video, Lauren Bush states that adopting a food safety culture requires that every person involved in the food supply chain—from the farm to corporate offices—prioritizes consumers and food safety in all of their choices. LGMA encourages all food production companies, whether or not they are in the produce sector, to utilize the video. LGMA believes that everyone in the food supply chain plays a role in feeding the world and has a responsibility to continue to improve food safety outcomes.