Sudhim Thanawala, Associated Press Writer, reported on the failure of the State Assembly to pass meaningful food safety legislation.  The three bills by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, had earlier passed the Senate but were held up in the Assembly Agriculture Committee, where one was rejected and the other two did not come to a vote.

• One of his bills would have called for quality standards for irrigation water, prohibited untreated manure from being used as fertilizer and banned portable toilets from farm fields.

• Another would have authorized the California Department of Public Health to establish an inspection program for leafy vegetables and adopt recall procedures for contaminated produce

• A third, which the committee rejected, would have made it easier for officials to trace contaminated produce.

One has to ask why the “leafy green industry” did not what to have this passed?