The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a ceremony commemorating the signing of a Statement of Intent (SOI) that enhances the Food Safety Partnership between the United States and Mexico. The SOI broadens and strengthens the scope of the existing Produce Safety Partnership SOI, signed in 2014. Now referred to as the Food Safety Partnership, this partnership is expanded from produce to include all human food regulated by the FDA.
The partnership between the FDA, the National Service of Agro-Alimentary Public Health Safety and Quality (SENASICA), and the Federal Commission for the Protection from Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS), embraces the use of new and emerging technologies to strengthen the Participants’ respective technical and predictive capabilities; leverages food safety programs at SENASICA and COFEPRIS and their work with local industry; and further enhances collaborations with other key partners in the United States and Mexico, among others.
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Historically, the FDA and its regulatory counterparts in Mexico have worked collaboratively in both countries due to the high volume of food trade across the border. About a third of all imported food into the United States is from Mexico and 60% of all imported produce is from Mexico.
The goal of the Food Safety Partnership is to strengthen collaboration on four priority areas agreed upon by all three agencies to better protect public health across the border:
- Outbreak response
- Laboratory collaboration
- Prevention
- Outreach and training
The Food Safety Partnership aligns with the aims of the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint, announced earlier this summer, with its approach to food safety through the Blueprint’s four core elements of tech-enabled traceability, smarter tools and approaches for prevention and outbreak response, new business models and business modernization and food safety culture.
