FDA Inspection of Packinghouses

By Steve Sargent, Professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, Gainesville and Phyllis Gilreath , Manatee County Extension Service

How likely is it that FDA inspectors will make unannounced visits to Florida growers and handlers of fresh produce? Actually, they already have.

A recent article in The Packer (Nov. 14, 2005) summarized a workshop held at the Produce Marketing Association meeting in November in Atlanta . “Surviving an FDA Inspection” was the title of the workshop, and an FDA official stated that unannounced inspections are possible for fresh produce operations. A produce industry representative even suggested that handlers should develop a document on how to respond to an inspection and stage mock inspections at their operations.

We checked with FDA officials at district offices in Atlanta and in Maitland , Florida , about the likelihood of inspections occurring. Both regional directors stated the following:

1) First of all, there is no new FDA program to increase spot inspections for fresh produce.

2) The few inspections that have occurred have been related to tracebacks that were conducted in response to an outbreak of food-borne illnesses associated with fresh produce.

3) The FDA also has a produce sampling program, and periodically takes samples at points in the postharvest chain. However, these samples represent only fractions of a percent of all produce shipped/handled/imported into the US .

So in summary, those growers, packers and shippers who have implemented a serious food safety program (including third-party auditing and good record keeping) should have no problem if a spot inspection were to occur. These preventative measures are the best “insurance policy” to prove “due diligence” in the event of an outbreak occurring after the product has left the handler.