Food regulators from Mexico and the United States issued a statement of intent on Monday to expand a six-year-old partnership on food safety to cover all of the human food regulated by the FDA. Mexico is a leader in food trade with the United States; about one-third of all the food imported into the United States is from Mexico and 60 percent of imported produce comes from Mexico.
The FDA said the agreement embraces new and emerging technologies, leverages food safety programs at two Mexican agencies and will strengthen work by Mexico and the United States with other nations. “U.S. consumers rely on imports from Mexico for much of their fresh fruit and vegetables that they eat as well as other foods,” said FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn. Joining FDA in the statement of intent were Mexico’s Federal Commission for the Protection from Sanitary Risks and the National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety and Quality.
Canadian rules take effect on Tuesday that require the testing of romaine lettuce imported from the Salinas Valley of California for E. coli bacteria through Dec. 31, reported The Packer. Alternately, importers can submit a declaration of origin that the lettuce was grown elsewhere. The Salinas Valley has been identified as the source of E. coli outbreaks from 2016-19, said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. In a release, the agency said it was “implementing temporary import measures aimed at preventing contaminated food from entering the marketplace.”