US food buyers, importers and wholesalers are being offered free tours to Mexico to visit certified farms and food processing facilities.
Organised by Mexico Calidad Suprema (Mexico Supreme Quality or MSQ), the tours aim to offer US buyers a first-hand perspective of Mexico’s commitment to food safety, according to a press release from the organisation.
The initiative is being supported by agencies including the Safe Quality Food Institute (SQFI) GlobalGAP and Harvest Mark, and comes in response to the FDA’s new Food Safety Modernization Act and new Pathway to Global Product Safety and Quality report, which focuses on improving the safety of imported products.
MSQ said it believes the tours will give US food professionals – and, ultimately, consumers – complete confidence in the producers certified by MSQ.
In addition to satisfying global food safety requirements, the tours are also being offered as a goodwill gesture to build greater partnership and trust between the two countries’ food industries.
“Both the US and Mexico need to work together, not only within the framework of the Food Safety Modernization Act, but because clean, healthy food should be the right of any citizen,” said Juan Laborín, president of Mexico Supreme Quality.
“Mexico represents one of the finest growing regions in the world, and we want our partners in the US to feel as good about it as we do.”
Mr Laborín said the tours are just the latest example of MSQ working openly and transparently to enhance the partnership between Mexico’s suppliers and US retailers.
Mexico accounts for 32 per cent of all fruit imported into the US, and 65.7 per cent of all vegetables imported into the US, according to MSQ.
Products certified under MSQ include apples, papayas, trout, prickly pears, grapefruit, tilapia, table grapes, watermelons, garlic, tomatoes, rice, beef, pork, avocados, oleic oil, bananas, strawberries, Key limes, Persian limes, mangoes, Jalapeño peppers, Poblano peppers, Serrano peppers, pecans and blackberries.
