CDFA Secretary Karen Ross spoke to attendees of the 2026 Association of Fruits & Vegetables Inspection & Standardization Agencies (AFVISA) Conference on Wednesday, May 13. The association includes inspectors from throughout the country and Secretary Ross thanked them for working to maintain quality standards and specifications in produce brought to market to maintain the integrity consumers expect.
Secretary Ross also celebrated the work of CDFA inspectors and laboratory staff in the Inspection Services Division by mentioning some figures from last year, including:
- Shipping Point Inspection Program inspected more than $6 billion worth of fresh produce, including 4 billion pounds of almonds, 14.2 million pounds of table grapes and 79 million pounds of kiwis
- Produce Safety Program and Food Safety Auditing Unit performed over 1,100 food safety inspections and audits
- Center for Analytical Chemistry performed more than 18,000 analyses on more than 11,000 samples, generating more than 3 million data points
- Fertilizing Materials Inspection Program reviewed 5,786 fertilizer product labels
- California State Organic Program staff conducted more than 1,500 inspections