FDA, in collaboration with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the University of California, Davis’s Western Center for Food Safety, and agricultural stakeholders in the Central Coast of California, conducted a multi-year study in the Central Coast agricultural region to identify environmental factors that significantly contributed to the introduction, persistence, growth, and spread of foodborne pathogens that could contaminate produce during production and harvest, and identified factors that led to pathogen die-off.
Press Releases
- FDA Constituent Update: March 5, 2026: FDA and Partners in the Central Coast Agricultural Region of California Share Findings from Multi-year Environmental Study
- CDFA's Planting Seeds Blog: March 5, 2026: Food Safety: FDA releases initial findings of 5-year CA Central Coast environmental study, highlighting benefits of government and industry collaboration'
- UC Davis News Story: March 5, 2026: Study Improves Understanding of Food Safety Risks in California Central Coast Produce
CALS Outreach Events
- March 4, 2026: California Longitudinal Study (CALS) Industry Briefing, Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, California.
April 9, 2026: FDA Human Foods Program Regulatory Research Lecture Series, College Park, MD. Speakers: Anne-Laure Moyne and Xiaohong Wei. - April 29-30, 2026: Western Regional Center to Enhance Food Safety Annual Meeting, Denver, CO. Speakers: Anne-Laure Moyne and Xiaohong Wei.
- May 6-7, 2026: Western Food Safety Conference, Salinas, CA. Speakers: Rob Atwill, Lianna Kelly, and Natalie Krout-Greenberg.
- May 8, 2026: Findings from FDA's California Longitudinal Study. Food Marketing Institute Industry Briefing. Online. Speakers: Linda Harris and Susan Leonard.
- July 26-29, 2026. International Association for Food Protection, New Orleans, LA. Presenters: Rebecca Bell, Lisa Harrison, Julie Kase, Susan Leonard, Anne-Laure Moyne, and Xiaohong Wei. Abstracts from IAFP 2026 (WCFS abstracts page)
Questions and Answers
Initial findings from the California Longitudinal Study were presented at an industry briefing held on March 4, 2026, in Monterey, California. More than 100 questions were submitted by attendees during the presentation. While some questions were addressed during the meeting, time did not allow for all of them to be answered.
To provide additional clarification, questions have been organized by topic and responses to an initial set of 50 questions are provided here (updated May 6, 2026). Responses to the remaining questions will be posted later this month.