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More than a month into the partial government shutdown, industry sources said the fruit and vegetable trade has not suffered any serious setbacks because of thousands of furloughed federal workers.
“So far, we are not seeing major impacts to crossings at this time due to the shutdown,” Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, said in an email. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection has gone above and beyond to do their jobs during this shutdown, and that should definitely be acknowledged.
Jungmeyer said there have been some challenges in longer-term planning discussions that go beyond the day-to-day mission of safety and security. “We definitely worry about how this delays the hiring and training of new officers,” Jungmeyer said. “We are confident all that will be worked out once the Congress and the President fund the government, but we need the President and the Congress to fund the government.”
Disruptions in fresh produce trade in south Florida have been only slight so far, said Jay Rodriguez, owner of Miami, Fla.-based Crystal Valley Foods. The Food and Drug Administration has been a little slow with some of their inspections of imports, he said, but generally the delays have been limited. On the other hand, he said the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s market news service has seemed short staffed at times and struggled to keep up with shifts in pricing of the asparagus market.
So far, the processing of H-2A worker applications has not yet been slowed by the government shutdown, said Michael Marsh, president and CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers.
The FDA has called back some inspectors to conduct food safety inspections of high risk facilities including produce operations, said Jennifer McEntire, vice president of food safety for the United Fresh Produce Association.
Some pundits have advised consumers to avoid fresh produce because of reduced federal food safety inspections, she said.
“I’ve been very frustrated when I see media reports that say, ‘avoid fresh produce because of the shutdown because it’s not inspected,’” she said.
The idea that fresh produce is inherently unsafe is “clearly false,” she said, noting that industry players are committed to market safe food with or without government inspections.
While food safety has not been compromised in the near term, McEntire the shutdown has resulted in the cancellation of several produce safety web seminars that included federal health officials.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb continues to be vocal about the agency’s moves to inspect imported and high-risk foods, including some fresh produce, as the government shutdown drags on.
In a recent public hearing on youth e-cigarette use, he said the prolonged shutdown was a “watershed moment” for the agency.
According to Gottlieb’s tweets, the agency had more than 200 Office of Human and Animal Food Operations investigators working in mid-January; about 550 in that division are normally on the job.
The FDA recalled 100 investigators and 35 supervisors to conduct/support surveillance of high-risk products. In the Office of Import and Enforcement Operations, about 450 employees out of 750 were on the job at the time, Gottlieb tweeted.
Organic concerns
Laura Batcha, CEO and executive director of the Organic Trade Association, said the third-party cerification and oversight system for verification and compliance of organic standards have not been interrupted by the shutdown.
But the USDA’s National Organic Program, which investigates complaints of fraud, has put its work on hold, and a backlog could build up.
“The longer the government shutdown continues, the greater the impact will be on the organic food industry, and all of U.S. agriculture and other industries,” Batcha said.
“Past shutdowns have slowed projects, program work and proposals underway at USDA, and many USDA programs and departments including the National Organic Program and other programs that touch organic are chronically understaffed even when the government is fully operational.”
News editor Chris Koger contributed to this article.
