The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas and the Texas International Produce Association have joined forces to translate Spanish comments for FSMA Ag Water Guidelines.
In a release on March 29, the two organizations said, “As one of the arguably most important inputs in growing fresh produce, having a company’s comments heard on the proposed FSMA Produce Safety Rule’s Agricultural Water Guidelines is vital. And to that effect, the Texas International Produce Association (TIPA) and the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA) want to make sure that the voices of the international community have that same opportunity.”
The release continued, “Comments in the Federal Register for this rule must be submitted in English. Yet this ruling will impact how millions of pounds of fresh produce are governed with regard to the usage of agricultural water. It is safe to assume that foreign growers and similar entities would have comments in their native language, especially in Latin America.”
Dante Galeazzi, president/CEO of TIPA, said, “Our associations are familiar with the challenges that can arise when communicating in a different language. To help Spanish speakers get their comments provided to the Federal Register, TIPA & FPAA have partnered to coordinate translation services for those companies, using a list of volunteer food safety subject-matter-experts to have those comments translated into English.”
Lance Jungmeyer, president/CEO of FPAA, added, “The volume of fresh produce that arrives from areas such as Mexico has grown over the course of the last decade. And no one can argue the importance of food safety. We want producers and handlers of Mexican fresh fruits and vegetables to be able to express their concerns or support for the proposed rule. This is significant because these are the same people on the ground in those countries, who need to share with our industries and governments their opinions about the challenges posed by certain regulations.”
To send comments in Spanish for translation, please contact either Georgina Felix at the FPAA (gfelix@freshfrommexico.com) or Kim Avendano at TIPA (kim@texipa.org). From there, the associations will help funnel the comments to a network of experts, who will then work with the commenter to move those comments into English – for FREE. Once those comments are translated, the commenter can then post their comments in the Federal Register for consideration by FDA for final rulemaking.
Comments are due by April 5, so TIPA & FPAA ask that all requests be in no later than March 31. To view the proposed rule or to submit comments on the official docket, please visit https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FDA-2021-N-0471/document
