California Tomato Farmers' commitment to food safety on display at PMA Foodservice conference
California Tomato Farmers' commitment to food safety on display at PMA Foodservice conference
Buyers who do business with California Tomato Farmers members now have additional reassurance that the tomatoes they purchase are grown in full compliance with stringent food-safety regulations through a comprehensive database available on the CTF website.
The database, which allows tomato buyers to view for themselves the food-safety compliance and audit results of CTF members, will be on display Friday, July 20 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. during the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Market Fair.
CTF mem
bers and staff will be on hand during the foodservice convention's opening reception to show interested customers how the database works as well as discuss the food-safety programs in place at CTF.
California Tomato Farmers is a cooperative established in 2007 by farmers who had a shared commitment to food safety and enhanced quality. CTF worked with industry experts and university scientists to develop a comprehensive set of stringent food-safety standards for field-grown tomatoes that was published by United Fresh Produce Association and titled Food Safety and Auditing Protocol for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain. This is the first and only harmonized audit for the fresh tomato industry.
Compliance with these standards is mandatory for CTF members and is verified through regular, random and unannounced audits conducted by U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspectors.
The database that provides the audit results was first implemented last year. The database shows not only compliance levels but also when corrective actions were needed and completed. Through this database, CTF members are fully disclosing to buyers how they are performing on audits.
Database postings are handled by the USDA audit team and the database is updated nightly. Security measures enable USDA to control the auditing process without industry viewing the results until the audit is final and posted. Audits are reviewed by USDA supervisors and only supervisors can "lock" audits. Once locked, audits cannot be removed from the database.
CTF members are all multi-generation farming families that represent 80 percent of the volume of fresh tomatoes produced in California. Members include Ace Tomato Co. Inc., The DiMare Co., Gargiulo Inc., Live Oak Farms, Pacific Triple E and San Joaquin Tomato Growers Inc.
