Doug Ohlemeier of The Packer revisits an early Feb. 2012 meeting of tomato growers, shippers, repackers, buyers, regulators and auditors in Florida to pull out a few golden quotes.

Billy Heller, chief executive officer of Pacific Tomato Growers Ltd., Palmetto, Fla., expressed disappointment with what he calls “shower science,” the protocols auditors and customers come up with that may not be practical.

“The differentiation is that someone as a customer says they’re going to be different and will say if there’s a cow within the next galaxy, they’re not going to buy. I can live with almost all of it, but not the ‘shower thoughts.’ It shouldn’t be in there if they’re not supported by science. Opinions don’t work.”

In a discussion about birds roosting on electric poles near tomato field bins, Heller said Florida growers must deal with a variety of wildlife, including lizards and alligators.

If auditors regulate how close wildlife can be to fields, it should be a science-based rule, he said.

Drew McDonald, Salinas, Calif.-based vice president of quality and food safety for Danaco Solutions LLC, Highland Park, Ill., said each circumstance is different.

“What we don’t want to do is throw the baby out with the bath water and remove all poles and eliminate all birds. I’m not exaggerating when I say we had a customer saying there’s too much dirt (in the field). We can get a little crazy here but these are common-sense things. People agree they don’t want bird droppings on fresh produce, but what they disagree on is ways to prevent that.”