January 31st, 2020 Nogales, Arizona-
As part of the company’s commitment towards food safety, Divine Flavor continuously conducts internal reviews of all their ranches where their product is grown to validate all the locations are complying with the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Continuing with an on-going campaign installed with the production areas in Mexico, the Divine Flavor team met with their partners in Peru and Chile who are currently harvesting table grapes for the company.
The internal visits are carried out on a yearly basis and are primarily focused on areas of water testing, good manufacturing practices (GMPs), and food safety plans, all of which are focal points of the final rules of FSMA. “Our visits with each of our production locations are a collaboration of learning and discussing the requirements,” said Michael DuPuis, QA Manager for Divine Flavor.
“Food safety plans can’t be adapted as a one-size-fits-all. Each facility has different circumstances and they each require a unique attention based on their geographical location and facility,” said DuPuis.
Another focus of the visits have been related to FSMA’s final rules of the Foreign Supplier Verification Program where both the supplier and importer work together to review the necessary activities linked to food safety.
The FDA FSMA rules on the FSVP begin for some importers in May of 2017. The rule requires importers to perform certain risk-based activities to verify food being imported into the United States is meeting the applicable U.S. food safety standards.
Following the due dates mandated by FDA, Divine Flavor has been proactively working with each location to make sure evaluations and approvals are taking place per the company’s policies.
“Divine Flavor being an importer in addition to a grower, it is our responsibility to make sure we are taking the right steps to verifying our fields have the best practices in place,” DuPuis noted.
“We and our growers take food safety seriously, and by having good communication and access to our fields allows for better success of the regulations.”
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For more information, please contact:
Michael DuPuis
Public Relations Coordinator
+1 (520)-281-8328
mdupuis@divineflavor.com
