Some firms have hired outside companies to certify that their product is safe for years. Others are just implementing the practice and still others see no need for it.

There are several reasons some growers in the valley haven't been quick to jump on the third-party inspection bandwagon.

For on thing, California already has some of the strictest laws pertaining to pesticide use and food safety in the nation. Most growers pay strict attention to those regulations because not only do they not want to be responsible for making people sick, but they certainly don't want to have to deal with the legal repercussions of violating the law.

Also, growers say, the Coachella Valley has had the good fortune of being relatively pest-free compared with some other growing areas, so the use of pesticides and the resulting risk of pesticide residue on product is not as great in the valley as it may be elsewhere.

Those who do have a third-party inspection program often have implemented it at the request of buyers.

Anthony Vineyards in Coachella has participated in Scientific Certification Systems' NutriClean program for four years, co-owner Bobby Bianco said.

"We've done it as a matter of course," he said. "We just think it's good business." Buyers did not ask for third-party certification at first, he said, but a lot of them ask for it now.

Mike Aiton, senior vice president of sales for Sun World International Inc., Coachella, said the company spent the winter putting together a third-party inspection program with PrimusLabs.com, Santa Maria, Calif.

"They have certified our packing houses, surveyed our fields and will be doing third-party inspections for us prior to harvest and at post-harvest on all Sun World products-not just table grapes," he said.

Sun World has requested third-party inspections for certain customers in the past, Aiton said, but this will be the first time the company has participated in the program that is all-encompassing.

"During the past year we decided that was something that was going to have to be part of anybody's marketing program in the years ahead," Aiton said. "We want to assure our customers that what they get from us is safe."

At Peter Rabbit Farms in Coachella, president John Powell Sr. said his carrot program is Primus-certified, and the company can implement a similar program for its grapes if a buyer requires it. But Powell said the program is an added expense.

The company follows good agricultural practices and complies with all pertinent government regulations, he said. Even without third-party certification, "We know we have a clean product."

As a grower for the Welch's brand, Desert Diamond-Gold Coast, Thermal, Calif., has its product certified by Scientific Certification Systems, but partner Roger Horton said because there are relatively few pests in the Coachella Valley compared to other growing areas, the use of pesticides is not extensive anyway.

"It's relatively easy to show a certification that we have no residues," he said.

In fact, "If you had our grapes and organic grapes on the table and conducted any tests you wanted on them, you couldn't tell the grapes apart," he said.

Indeed, a computer study conducted by the Pesticide Action Network, a San-Francisco-based nonprofit group that advocates reducing use of toxic chemicals, indicated pesticide use by table grape growers actually declined between 1995 and 1998, according to the Los Angeles Times. At the same time, the study said overall pesticide use in the state increased by 5 percent.

Mike Bozick, president of Richard Bagdasarian Inc., Mecca, Calif., said he's not surprised to hear pesticide use declined among grape growers.

Not only are growers concerned about the safety of their product, but they also are concerned about expenses, and pesticides are quite costly, he said. "If a grape grower or anybody else can get by without using them, they are going to do it."

He also attributed declining pesticide use among grape growers to the fact that there are pests and diseases that affect other plants that do not affect grapes.

Eddie Walker, grape and citrus manager for Peter Rabbit Farms, said more growers are trying to control what pests there are in the Coachella Valley by biological means.

"There's a concerted effort on the part of our growers to reduce pesticide use," he added.

Bianco of Anthony Vineyards agreed.

"(Growers) take this product home and eat it themselves, and they feed it to their families," he said. "Rest assured, you get no safer product anywhere in the world than the American farmer."