FDA Threatens Guatemalan and Costa Rican Produce Farms with Import Refusal for Unsanitary Conditions
The Food and Drug Administration threatened to refuse imports from Guatemalan and Costa Rican produce farms and packing houses after finding “objectionable conditions and practices” at each, according to two agency warning letters.
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At the Asociación de Pequeños Agricultores Comalapenses de Productos No Tradicionales in San Juan Comalopa, Guatemala, an FDA investigator found three pits that collect sewage and processing wastewater from the bathroom and packing houses, the agency said (here). The sewage pits were built of dirt, unsealed, and as a result exposed to insects and other animals that could spread pathogens from the pits into nearby fields, FDA said. The pits were also shallow, and directly adjacent to blackberry and pea growing fields located downhill, and so had the potential to seep and overflow onto the fields when it rains.
Meanwhile, at Comercializadora Segura de Cartago S.S.R. S.A. in Oreamuno, Costa Rica, FDA discovered insanitary conditions related to both employees and their handling of the produce (here). There were no toilets or hand washing facilities in the field for employees that harvested produce, which are required by FDA. The employees’ restroom at the packinghouse had no running water, the toilet and sink were visibly dirty, and there was no toilet paper. The packing house employees, who directly handled carrots, had to wash their hands with a hose. At the packinghouse, the employees dragged plastic crates containing carrots across the floor, without controls for microbe transfer from the toilet such as foot baths or special footwear.
FDA said imports from each facility could be subject to refusal of admission, and detention without physical examination, if adequate responses listing corrective actions are not received.