Food safety leaders from Central America took part in an FDA training program on good agricultural practices (GAPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) in the spring. Participants represented Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, E1 Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, and included representatives from government, business, academia, health, and agriculture.

The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) joined with the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Foreign Agricultural Service Cochran Fellowship Program and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) at the University of Maryland to develop and sponsor the two-week program.

The program featured classroom instruction and visits to farms, packing houses, and agricultural research stations. The first segment took place at the University of Maryland Inn and Conference Center in College Park, and included discussions on food safety strategy, trade issues, and hazard identification, in addition to an intensive review of GAPs. The second segment, held in Antigua, Guatemala, allowed participants to observe how the good agricultural practices outlined in the first part of the course are applied.

CFSAN conducts training around the world on GAPs and GMPs as part of its National Food Safety Program. The United States has taken major steps to ensure the safety of domestically grown produce, and the FDA has leveraged its ability to do the same with imported produce through teamwork with the USDA's Cochran Fellowship Program and JIFSAN. For more information, contact CFSAN at 1-888-SAFEFOOD or go to www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ fs-toc.html.

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