Food Safety Best Practices Guide
for Growing & Handling of
Mexican Papayas
2019
Following the Salmonella outbreak linked to
Mexican-grown papayas, the Texas
International Produce Association (TIPA)
formed a respose group.
Shortly thereafter, FDA released a letter
regarding their concern. TIPA enlisted Dr.
Jennifer McEntire w/United Fresh (now
IFPA) and conceptualized a multi-year,
multi-step, multi-stakeholder approach to
manage and verify the management of
papaya safety.
2020
Efforts led by TIPA and ProExport Papaya
(MX-based trade association), with support
from United Fresh and Food Safety CTS, saw
the first edition release of the Food Safety
Best Practices Guide for the Growing &
Handling of Mexican Papayas in both
English & Spanish. The guide was developed
with input from a broad array of
stakeholders, is free, and serves as the base
upon which proceeding efforts were built.
2021
More than 90% of the FDA’s (active) Green
List exporters of Mexican-grown papayas
have participated in trainings within this
effort for topics such as: “Food Safety Best
Practices Guide for the Growing & Handling
of Mexican Papayas,” FSMA’s “Produce
Safety Rule,” FSVP Manual Development,”
and SENASICA’s “Anexo A Plan de Acción.”
2022
Training remains on-going and additional
work has included: the development of a
self-audit verification tool for use on farms,
model FSVPs for use by papaya importers,
and a root cause analysis protocol to
investigate issues.
The initial Root Cause Analysis protocol
was initiated following a positive salmonella test during an FDA inspection. In response,
ProExport Papaya promptly executed the developed protocol, revealing that the farm had
employed inexperienced and untrained labor during the holiday season in Mexico.
Subsequent corrective actions have since been put in place.
2023
First industry in Mexico to train in the new proposed FDA water standard and launched
food safety Training Kits. Completion of a research paper for harvesting papayas presented
to SENASICA to make improvements to the action plan for papayas and the guide.
The verification program continues with more than 175 farms audited. Efforts persist in
Guatemala to integrate them into the papaya industry, and establish the foundation for
the National Papaya Board.
2024
First industry in Mexico to invite and host the FDA on a field tour and at our National
Assembly, allowing them to witness firsthand the level of implementation of food safety
best practices.
We updated our Root Cause Analysis protocol to include and engage U.S.
importers with actionable steps. We launched a highlights video showcasing our efforts
over four years, presented to FDA officials at various levels. We announced a collaboration
agreement with Azzule, enabling the industry to achieve GFSI certification and include the
fresh papaya addendum designed by IFPA. We held the second meeting on the proposal to
establish the National Papaya Board in the U.S. at The Global Produce and Floral Show.
All rights reserved
