FRUIT AND VEGETABLE COMMITTEE ADVISES SHARING MARKETING AGREEMENTS AND MARKETING ORDERS AS A STEP TOWARD UNIFIED STANDARDS

By Barbara Wunder, FFVA communications manager

The newly-reconstituted USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee (FVIAC) has recommended that the department make federal marketing orders and agreements available to commodity groups interested in adopting and ensuring compliance with food safety standards.

The committee made its recommendation Feb. 8 at a meeting in Washington, D.C. 

“Marketing orders and agreements are viable tools to help the fruit and vegetable industry drive a commodity-specific, national approach to food safety standards that takes regional production differences into account,” said Mike Stuart, FFVA president and a member of the FVIAC.  

FFVA President Mike Stuart is one of 25 members of USDA's Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, which recently advocated making federal marketing orders and agreements available to others in the fresh food industry.

The Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), Good Handling Practices (GHPs), and/or Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) that could be made available through the marketing agreements and marketing orders are in line with the committee’s earlier recommendation that USDA “facilitate and advocate the development and adoption of unified food safety standards for the fruit and vegetable industry that reflect the risks associated with individual commodities and the entire supply chain.”

Marketing agreements and orders are highly specialized regulatory mechanisms that have not been used in the past to implement food safety programs. They are administered by committees of representatives that are nominated by the industries and selected by USDA, and are funded by assessments levied on handlers.

As an example, the Florida Tomato Committee was created by a federal marketing order to regulate the handling of tomatoes grown in certain areas of the state. The committee also funds marketing research and development projects and marketing promotions.

Marketing orders are voted in place by all those growers affected, and once established, compliance is mandatory for all those in the production area for that particular commodity.  Marketing agreements are voluntary. They bind only those handlers who choose to sign the agreement.

The USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee makes recommendations directly to United States Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer (pictured above).

In addition to addressing food safety at the February meeting, the committee also decided to form working groups to delve into issues such as child nutrition and reauthorization of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - better known as the WIC Program; produce transportation; agricultural labor; AMS’ Market News and fresh fruit and vegetable inspection programs.

The USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee’s role is to develop recommendations for submission to the secretary of agriculture on ways the department can tailor programs to better meet the needs of the U.S. produce industry. Former Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman issued its first two-year charter in August 2001. The group gets together twice yearly in the Washington, D.C. area to hear government and industry presentations of relevant programs.

“We have many boards and committees in the produce industry, but few are as important as the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee,” said industry analyst Jim Prevor in his Perishable Pundit communication piece. “This committee is crucial because it has the opportunity to make recommendations directly to the United States Secretary of Agriculture.”

Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee members were selected from individuals nominated by their peers and represent fresh fruit and vegetable grower/shippers, wholesalers, retailers, trade associations, importers, processors, foodservice suppliers, fresh-cut processors, brokers and state departments of agriculture.