Shipping Profiles
Audits, testing and food safety programs are a part of daily life for any produce operation.
In the Rio Grande Valley, companies work to foster a culture of food safety among their employees.
“One of the challenges of a food safety program is to not treat it as if you’re studying for the test, but to accept it and embrace it as a way of doing business,” said Chris Eddy, general manager of Edinburg, Texas-based Frontera Produce Ltd.
“That’s our focus, and we’re seeing a lot of success there and getting a buy-in from our employees.”
That “it’s time for our annual audit, let’s do an extra sweep” attitude is long gone.
“Everyone understands this is important,” Eddy said.
The company is spreading this culture out to all of the sheds it operates and represents, Eddy said.
Curtis DeBerry, president of Boerne, Texas-based Progreso Produce Ltd., said his company is rolling out in-house microbial testing in addition to its regular audits and Global Food Safety Initiative certification.
“We’ve gone completely out on our own,” he said.
“We’re doing the microbial testing in-house weekly. We’re going to step it up and be much more involved in the testing itself and the auditing in between, both in our facilities and out in the fields.”
DeBerry said his company’s enhanced focus was driven by the buyer community and Progreso’s decision to enhance the program.
At Bebo Distributing Inc. in Pharr, Texas, the packing lines are getting mechanical enhancements in the name of food safety.
The company recently installed a new packing line that includes a chlorine wash.
“We’re trying to stay ahead of the game,” said Jimmy Garza, director of operations.
“We handle cherry and grape tomatoes, cucumbers and onions on this line so it had to be multifunctional, with food safety in mind.”
Bebo Distributing also is getting ready to place an order for an ozone misting tunnel for its packing lines as well.
Food safety audits are taking a different turn for a lot of companies.
For Bebo Distributing, it’s not just about scoring high, but about doing the best they can and maintaining that standard year-round.
“We scored a 100 this time on our Primus audit and we’ve never had that before,” Garza said.
“We’ve always been close. This shows we’re staying on top of things and making sure we’re conscious of what’s going on.”
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