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For Immediate Release: September 23
Contact: Jeff Beach
(609) 292-8896

(TRENTON) - New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Charles M. Kuperus today welcomed the FDA’s decision to declare spinach grown outside a three-county area in California safe for consumption.

“This is good news for our New Jersey spinach farmers, who were very concerned that they would not have a market for their fresh spinach due to a crisis not of their own making,” said Secretary Kuperus. “Our job now is to very aggressively help our farmers to re-establish consumer confidence in spinach through our Jersey Fresh branding program and the continued work of our quality grading inspectors.

“We thank the members of the New Jersey Congressional delegation, the New Jersey Legislature and all our state and federal partners for their show of support during this difficult time for our spinach farmers. Their assistance in urging the FDA to reach a timely conclusion to this matter has helped greatly in reassuring our farmers that we can re-establish the market for their fresh spinach at their time of harvest.”  

View the Jersey Fresh spinach print advertisement.

For information on the safe handling of raw produce, visit the FDA's website at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/prodsafe.html.