On November 13, 2024, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the Monterey County Farm Bureau jointly released the highly anticipated report, “California Agricultural Neighbors: Building a Proactive Food Safety Culture.” The report addresses food safety challenges where different types of farming operations coexist in close proximity and outlines the next steps for strengthening food safety practices in California’s Salinas Valley, particularly in addressing the risks with E. coli outbreaks linked to leafy greens.

The California Agricultural Neighbors (CAN) initiative, launched in 2021, has been working to bring together diverse stakeholders to improve food safety practices. The new report builds on a 2022 action plan and offers concrete next steps for continued progress. Additional details on these next steps can be found in the full CDFA release here.

As an active participant in the CAN initiative, Western Growers is supportive of efforts that support a One Health approach to promote safe food production practices within complex agricultural systems.

Read the California Agricultural Neighbors (CAN) report here.

For more information about the report and its next steps, visit the CDFA release here.