Where Cleanliness Means Profits

By Charles A. Poe

Do those luscious-looking strawberries lining the shelves at the local supermarket carry a dangerous amount of residue from pesticides? Consumers have long wondered, but had no guarantees of purity unless they shopped at an organic-foods store. Now the $313 billion supermarket industry is starting to seize on pristine produce as a major selling point and competitive issue. In California "certified clean" has become a battle cry among rival grocery chains. The pesticide fears have been fanned this summer by Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers of America president, who last week concluded a 36-day hunger strike protesting the exposure of laborers to allegedly harmful chemicals in fields and vineyards.

By creating a heightened standard of "certified clean," a tiny California- based company called NutriClean has sent grocers scrambling to get an independent stamp of approval for their produce. Founded four years ago by Chemist Stanley Rhodes, the twelve-employee firm serves growers and grocers alike, sampling produce in the field and on supermarket loading docks. The NutriClean tests check for several pesticides that are not routinely screened by the Food and Drug Administration. Says Frank McMinn, vice president of advertising for Raley's, a 53-store Sacramento-based supermarket chain that was one of the first to tout its NutriClean testing: "We've never had an ad campaign as successful as this one. Customers love it."

The rush for independent testing angers some competitors and government officials, who contend that federal and state inspections provide ample safety. Not everyone is so sure. Fully 75% of the consumers surveyed in a Gallup poll last year said that pesticide contamination was a major concern to them. The National Academy of Sciences and the General Accounting Office have both issued studies that question the effectiveness of Federal Government & produce inspection, which typically samples only 1% of all fruits and vegetables sold.

The furor has put chemical companies on the defensive as well. The Chavez hunger strike, accompanied by a boycott of California grapes and several supermarket chains, was partly inspired by an incident last year in which 75 farmworkers harvesting grapes sprayed with the insecticide Zolone came down with flulike symptoms. Under pressure from state agriculture officials, the chemical's manufacturer, Rhone-Poulenc, stopped selling the substance to grape growers. This year Rhone-Poulenc is carrying out a controversial test in which it paid 25 college students as much as $1,500 for one week to harvest a central California vineyard that had been sprayed with Zolone. Since the picking was concluded two weeks ago, none of the students have become ill.

The private seal of purity may become a standard feature in supermarkets because the FDA is considering a policy that would require growers and retailers to take over much of the responsibility for testing their produce. Some grocers believe that higher food prices would result. But many experts contend that more widespread testing would encourage growers to use fewer pesticides -- even if it means that their produce will be slightly less perfect-looking.

With reporting by Dan Cook/Oakland