The California Leafy Green Product Handler Marketing Agreement has added some PR teeth to its procedures.
Since its start as an industry response to the 2006 Spinach Crisis, the Marketing Agreement has maintained a website page where one could check the current status of handlers to see if they were certified members, members pending certification or had been recently decertified.
This was fine in theory but placed a heavy burden on buyers to check the website every single time they were going to place an order for any of the fourteen products covered by the Marketing Agreement:
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• Arugula • Butter Lettuce • Chard • Escarole • Iceberg lettuce • Red Leaf Lettuce • Spinach |
• Baby Leaf Lettuce • Cabbage • Endive • Green Leaf Lettuce • Kale • Romaine Lettuce • Spring Mix |
This mechanism made it easy for orders to keep flowing to decertified suppliers as buyers who weren’t checking the web site every day may not have noticed.
Now, however, the CLGMA has set up a mechanism that enables buyers to sign up for an e-mail update whenever there is a decertification action or other important information. It turns buying only from CLGMA members into a relatively easy thing to do as opposed to a job that needs to be constantly repeated. If you are a leafy greens buyer, click here to sign up for a free subscription to this service.
And some applause for the staff and board of CLGMA for going the extra mile to make this system work.
