Contaminated bagged salad briefly shut down a Yuma production facility in December. The FDA now says listeria contamination has led to two deaths and sickened over a dozen others in 13 states.
But it may be a while before we know exactly where the listeria contamination originated, and whether it will link back to the Yuma region or another facility in North Carolina that was also shut down, or somewhere along the supply chain.
On this episode of Arizona Edition, Paul Brierley of the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture talks about the AgTechX Food Safety Technology event held in Yuma in early February.
The conference brought together innovators and growers to talk about how new technology and research can help producers prevent and respond to contamination in produce. An innovators session focused on helping farmers track and identify contaminants fast and more efficiently.
Brierley says the Yuma event kicks off a year of activities designed to put new information and technology into the hands of growers.