FPAA and TIPA help translate Spanish comments for ag water proposal

The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas and the Texas International Produce Association are helping to translate Spanish language comments on the FDA's agricultural water proposed guidelines, the groups said on March 29.

“Our associations are familiar with the challenges that can arise when communicating in a different language,” Dante Galeazzi, president and CEO of TIPA said in a news release. “To help Spanish speakers get their comments provided to the Federal Register, TIPA & FPAA have partnered to coordinate translation services for those companies, using a list of volunteer food safety subject-matter-experts to have those comments translated into English.”

Comments about the ag water rule in the Federal Register must be submitted in English, and the groups said the views of Spanish-speaking growers are important to hear.

“The volume of fresh produce that arrives from areas such as Mexico has grown over the course of the last decade. And no one can argue the importance of food safety,” Lance Jungmeyer, president and CEO of FPAA, said in the release. “We want producers and handlers of Mexican fresh fruits and vegetables to be able to express their concerns or support for the proposed rule. This is significant because these are the same people on the ground in those countries, who need to share with our industries and governments their opinions about the challenges posed by certain regulations.” 

To send comments in Spanish for translation, please contact either Georgina Felix at the FPAA (gfelix@freshfrommexico.com) or Kim Avenado at TIPA (kim@texipa.org), the release said. The associations will help direct the comments to a network of experts, who will then work with the commenter to move those comments into English for no charge, according to the groups. Once those comments are translated, the commenter can then post their comments into the Federal Register for consideration by FDA for final rulemaking, according to the release. 

Comments are due by April 5, and TIPA and FPAA have asked that all requests be in no later than March 31. To view the proposed rule or to submit comments on the official docket, the release directs interested persons to https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FDA-2021-N-0471/document.