California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment - Comment

January 4, 2010 Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305) Food and Drug Administration 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061 Rockville, MD 20852 Re. Docket #FDA-2009-D-0348-0014, DOCID:fr04no09-81 To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to the release of the Draft Guidances for Tomatoes, Leafy Greens and Melons, the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment (CRAE) hereby submits the enclosed Guiding Principles for Produce Food Safety for consideration by the Food and Drug Administration. CRAE is a broad coalition of agricultural, environmental, labor, and public agency leaders working to promote an agriculture that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. As a multi-stakeholder group with many members working directly to address the e. coli outbreaks in leafy greens here in California, we have been working on the interplay between food safety and environmental concerns for several years. The key lessons we have learned have been distilled into a set of principles that we believe must be taken into account in creating food safety programs, regulations, and metrics that directly impact farmers and their lands. We have attached these principles as our joint comment on the Draft Guidances. Thank you for this opportunity to comment. Sincerely, Katy Mamen CRAE Coordinator