The heads of the National Agrifood Health, Safety and Quality Service (Senasica), Francisco Javier Trujillo Arriaga, the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris), Alejandro Svarch Pérez, and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Frank Yiannas, achieved a historic agreement. During the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Alliance for Food Safety, they signed a mutual cooperation agreement.
Binational cooperation
Officials from both countries stated that this type of collaboration is essential due to the high volume of food trade that exists between Mexico and the United States.
Svarch Pérez pointed out that the relationship between Mexico and the FDA is a great example of cooperation that has been consolidated over the years. It is based on science, common interests and trust, which has resulted in successful collaborations in food safety.
He thanked the commitment and effort of all the participants and invited to strengthen and deepen this cross-border collaboration, which has been possible because the three agencies are dedicated to protecting people.
The Agriculture official stressed that this international program has also had an impact on domestic consumption, since now on the shelves of the most important chains of self-service stores in Mexico, national consumers can purchase products certified in good practices by Senasica.
Mexico, he said, has made progress in updating safety schemes; as well as in the development and publication of protocols, guides and manuals, such as the one just published “Guide for the implementation of a traceability system for vegetables for fresh consumption”.
For his part, Frank Yiannas endorsed the FDA’s commitment to collaborate closely with Senasica and Cofepris on activities to improve communication and oversight, as well as share its experience with new approaches.
He explained that the Alliance is in line with the objectives of the Plan of the New Era of Smarter Food Safety, which has as central elements traceability enabled by technology, tools and smarter approaches for prevention and response to outbreaks, new models of business and food safety culture.
He highlighted that the mitigation plans for the pathogens Salmonella spp. in papaya and Cyclospora cayetanensis in coriander that Mexico has implemented have been very successful and can serve as an example for more crops. He proposed including work on the Antimicrobial Resistance, priority for both countries.
Objectives of this alliance between the FDA and Cofepris
Through the Alliance, health agencies in Mexico and the United States focus on four strategic priorities: preventing Foodborne Illness (FAD); improve coordination for the response to safety outbreaks; harmonize and coordinate the tasks of the official laboratories of regulatory entities; train industry in food safety and apply preventive controls for food intended for human consumption.
The first working group, Strategic Priorities, focuses on the establishment of mechanisms for the efficient exchange of information between the three agencies on detected risks.
As a future goal, harmonization was established between the Contamination Risk Reduction Systems (SRRC), which is accredited by Senasica, and the FDA’s Safety Standard for Fresh Agricultural Products (PSR).
The second group, Laboratory Collaboration, has made progress in activities related to priority pathogens for the three agencies. Likewise, it is proposed to harmonize the protocols for the analysis and detection of Cyclospora cayetanensis. The FDA plans to provide face-to-face training to staff at the Senasica and Cofepris laboratories.
The third working group, Outbreak Response, focuses on updating the binational protocol for the notification of outbreaks and on issues of information exchange on epidemiological surveillance, standardization of criteria and methods for the investigation of outbreaks and their advance notification, to expedite the investigation and promote its timely attention.
Also, it strengthens the traceability of fresh agricultural products and explores the design of a standard procedure for on-site, unannounced inspections.
The last working group, Training in Food Safety, celebrated that more than 300 national producers took the training for Producers of the Alliance for the Safety of Agricultural Products and that 90 percent of the papaya industry has been trained in good practices .
Similarly, the FDA and Senasica provided remote trainings throughout Mexico, in which 750 people have participated, and many more continue to view the recordings.