California LGMA Embarks on ‘Romaine Test & Learn’ Study

The California LGMA has initiated a 2-year food safety study called ‘Romaine Test & Learn.’ Approved unanimously by the LGMA Advisory Board, the study involves collecting and analyzing LGMA members’ pathogen test data for romaine lettuce including both pre-harvest and post-harvest testing.

“Romaine Test & Learn represents the most significant change the LGMA has made to benefit food safety since its inception. This program will allow our members’ individual testing data to collectively provide meaningful, aggregated data to better understand potential risks.”

-Jan Berk, LGMA Chair

Romaine Test & Learn was inspired by the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing program used to revolutionize commercial aviation through aggregation and sharing of safety data – to our knowledge, this is the first of its kind in the fresh produce industry.

“The airline safety model shows us that sharing data can improve safety. That is why we are embarking on this project – to make lettuce even safer for consumers to enjoy.”

-Tim York LGMA CEO

Although testing is not mandatory for LGMA members, anyone who does testing will be required to meet minimum protocols for collecting and testing samples. It is estimated that over 90% of LGMA members conduct romaine lettuce pathogen testing. This project will collect and analyze all their test data for the next two years.

California LGMA has partnered with Western Growers to use their GreenLink™ data sharing and data analytics platform.