Our Commitment to Food Safety

Rancho Guadalupe is committed to maintaining only the highest standards of safety over the food we produce and send into the supply chain. We have established and implemented Good Agricultural Practice (G.A.P.) and Good Harvesting Practice (G.H.P.) programs which focus on building and maintaining a system that minimizes the potential risk to the public with our vegetable commodities. These standards are scientifically based and have been developed by industry experts which are constantly revised as new science emerges. All of our operations are continually audited against the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards through 3rd party organizations, which monitor and verify our Food Safety Management System. We implement immediate corrective actions against any deficits found during these audits and from any situation arising during the course of business. Rancho Guadalupe recognizes that food safety is of the upmost importance and that we have a moral obligation to utilize the best tools at our disposal in order to produce safe food.  Not only for our customers and their end users, but to ensure continuing public trust in our industry.

This is why Rancho Guadalupe regularly trains our employees and continuously monitors every process that happens on our ranches. Our employees are encouraged to communicate with management and make suggestions, request support, or report any deviations in our programs, without fearing reprisal. We follow all aspects of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) which implements basic food safety practices from the Federal level. We have also adopted the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA) metrics as our minimum standard across all commodities, not just leafy greens. We have implemented monitoring programs within our growing and harvesting operations to ensure we are complying not only with the law and GFSI standards, but that we are adhering to our carefully curated company culture. Our ethos is to do the right thing, even when no one is looking.

3rd Party Auditing

Rancho Guadalupe contracts with a globally established certification body to conduct Food Safety verification audits on an annual basis. All ranches on which we grow our produce and every harvest crew we utilize are audited and certified against the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards through the PrimusGFS scheme. Additionally our operations are audited at minimum, annually, by the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (CA-LGMA).

Our operations are also inspected by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) for compliance with the Produce Safety Rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

Microbiological Testing

Rancho Guadalupe conducts monthly pathogenic testing on all water used in the operation. This includes every single point which water is sourced from, including: to irrigate crops, perform dust abatement, pack produce, clean/sanitize harvest equipment, crop protection applications, etc. We do this, in conjunction with our inspection programs, to validate and continuously monitor the microbial quality of the waters used in our operations.

Additionally, we perform pre-harvest raw product testing on every iceberg lettuce field using the YUM! Brands 1-Acre testing protocol. Fields are not harvested until we get confirmed negative results from our contracted laborotory. We perform testing on other commodities at our customers request.