April 7, 2020

Latest COVID-19-related updates from the Produce Marketing Association

Produce Marketing Association Chief Science Officer Max Teplitski issued the follow coronavirus-related (Covid-19) updates on April 7 to assist members of the produce supply chain during this crisis:

Max Teplitski, PMA Chief Science Officer

“In addition to convening industry, USDA, and FDA leaders last week during our industry’s Virtual Town Hall, our SciTech team curated recent regulatory updates and actively dispelled misconceptions about food safety and the novel coronavirus. The updated regulatory digest is available on the PMA website and includes directions on wearing face coverings or masks and gloves, what to do if a worker tests positive, temperature taking, social distancing and more.

To correct misconceptions about produce safety during this pandemic, we also sat down with journalists from U.S. News and World ReportReal Simple, Rachael Ray Magazine, WellAndGood.com and Produce Moms. We are continuing to reach out to our partners in the media to correct invalid guidance and misinformation about produce and food safety, and you will see us getting even more forceful in correcting false narratives.

As always if you would like to add others in your organization to our contact list, please let Cyndi Neal know.

Interview with the Experts: Don Schaffner, Rutgers University

If you haven’t watched my interview with the Rutgers Professor, Dr. Don Schaffner, please do — and refer your friends, relatives and customers to it as well. After our conversation, Dr. Schaffner also gave an interview to an NPR radio station. Instead of letting your friends watch certain viral videos, refer them to the interview with Dr. Schaffner (located part way down the page). I continue to meet with experts in virology and public health. If you have questions or thoughts that you would like me to address in my conversations with them, please let me know. You will see your questions answered in the upcoming video interviews with experts.

USDA Extends Some Audit Certifications

The USDA-AMS announced that they will be extending the expiration date of USDA audit certifications scheduled to expire on or before May 31, 2020, by 60 days. USDA audit certifications are normally valid for 12 months, but USDA-AMS is temporarily extending to aid the movement of fresh specialty crops into marketing channels. The certification extension applies to 400 current auditees certified under the USDA Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Domestic Origin Verification and Plant Systems Audit programs. Read more about these extension on USDA-AMS.

PMA COVID-19 Virtual Town Hall

The next member-only virtual town hall is set for noon EDT Wednesday, April 8. It will begin with a general session featuring industry CEOs discussing COVID-19, and then transition to breakout sessions focused on global trade, grower-shippers, supply chain, foodservice, retail, and floral. Register Now.

What are auditors doing to protect against transmission or acquisition of SARS-CoV-2?

In the midst of the produce industry responses to the supply chain and marketplace disruptions from the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID 19) pandemic, audits under the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked and FSMA-integrated audit schemes for Good Agricultural Practices, Good Handling Practices, Good Manufacturing Practice, and various other aspects of food safety systems are continuing. Audit service providers appear very uniform in providing assurance and sound policies for conducting ranch and facility site-audits and, as possible, virtual audits. In line with the fluidity of guidance and specific protective measures from authoritative sources, these policies resonate with the current information provided by the WHO, CDC, FDA, CDC, and local, state and federal authorities in countries of their operation. Flexibility and accommodations for certificate extensions have been communicated to support the industry during this challenging time, if full audits must be delayed because of COVID-19.

A few examples are provided here for those interested in the measures being taken to protect the firm, its employees, and auditors themselves as they must travel within and among affected regions. Some key elements include daily self-monitoring, 14-day self-isolation if having traveled from or through a restricted area, separate vehicle travel from firm’s host, frequent handwashing, and frequent sanitization of any hand-held equipment and clothing.

FDA Food Safety and Covid-19 FAQ

FDA has created a continuously updated FAQ page to address questions of interest from food supply to social distancing. Updates are dated so you are able to tell what information has been added each time. We are continuing to update our PMA digest of regulatory documents to include these ongoing changes.

AFDO Covid-19 Resource Page

The Association for Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) has created a resource page that provides links to information developed by CDC, FDA, and State Departments of Ag on various Covid-19 responses and questions.

Retail Covid-19 Flyer and Guide

PMA has created two documents to help retailers with Covid-19. One is a downloadable flyer to post on store doors to inform customers about safety precautions, which can be customized with your logo. The other is a guide for retail managers on COVID-19 procedures. Retailers, please consider using these chainwide. Wholesalers, please consider offering these to your independent and small-chain retail customers.

CDC advice on cleaning and disinfecting your Facility

The CDC has published a comprehensive guide focused on all things Covid-19. One of the recent pieces added was how to effectively clean and disinfect your facility. They outline what to do everyday, what to do if someone is sick, and considerations to take for your employees.

Potato Greening Caution

Trevor Suslow recently wrote a short piece on potato greening. He posted a note of caution about consuming greened potatoes unpeeled or with only superficial peeling of the most intense greened area on LinkedIn. There are toxic compounds associated with potato greening. It does take a fair amount to noticeably affect an adult (> 20 mg/ 100g of potato), but the small body mass of children increases the chance of symptoms. This is an important consideration as more consumers are buying and storing foods for longer.

Lastly, PMA has a variety of COVID-19 resources for you on our main website, and segment specific resource pages.


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