A small delegation of Mexican officials from Tuxpan, Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, visited Philadelphia in October for a comprehensive week-long tour of the Delaware River port complex. Organized by InterConsult Inc, based in Media, Pennsylvania, the tour was planned to provide an opportunity for the delegation to evaluate port facilities in the Delaware River complex.
Austin Hyde, president and CEO of InterConsult, and Ray Lawler, an associate at InterConsult and former strategic planner for the Delaware River Port Authority, led the tour. InterConsult represents the Port of Tuxpan in the United States and Canada.
Tuxpan is pursuing increased exports of perishables from produce-rich Veracruz State to the eastern US. To accommodate the anticipated increase in trade, a refrigerated warehouse is being built on the Port of Tuxpan. Those making the tour in Philadelphia were Enrique de Hita Yibale and his son Enrique de Hita Sanchez, owners of Frigotux, the new refrigerated warehouse under construction. Also participating were Marcial Guzman, director general of the Port of Tuxpan, and Hugo Anaya, the port's marketing director. (See Refrigerated Transporter, August 1999, for details on Tuxpan's trade efforts.)
The Delaware River port complex has operations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Although it is only the fifth largest in the US, Hyde said, it is nonetheless the world's largest for handling perishable food. It has a sophisticated food-handling infrastructure.
Three Tour Objectives Hyde listed the tour's aims. "The first was to underscore the advantages of exporting by ship, a method that is faster and cheaper than other modes and allows for far easier compliance with the many regulations involved," he said. "The second aim, nearly as important, was to give the owners of the warehouse a kind of crash course in the intricacies of the cold network essential to the export of perishable food to the US."
The third objective was to show the Mexican delegates how perishable food is handled in the US, and which foods the US market demands. "Mexican producers often are unfamiliar with US tastes and the fact that those tastes are constantly changing," Hyde said. "Historically, they have all too often insisted on exporting the products they think the Americans should buy if only they knew how wonderful they are, rather than the products Americans actually want."
Hyde warned that the logistics of exporting to the US are complex and can be baffling to the novice. He explained that because Mexican consumers are accustomed to buying fruits and vegetables at the moment of optimum ripeness, Mexico's procedures are geared to late harvest and require little or no post-harvest refrigeration. Foods typically are purchased about eight hours after harvest. Perishable foods for the US market, on the other hand, must be harvested far earlier in order to survive the lengthy distribution process before arriving at market with adequate shelf life.
"Harvest practices in Mexico for export must change and the Mexican growers and shippers will have to educate themselves on the elements of an effective cold chain," Hyde said. "In addition, a number of essential inspection processes, both governmental and private, must be accommodated. Clearly, the warehouse being built in Tuxpan will be a critical component in effecting successful exports."
Visits to Port Operations The first day of the tour took visitors to meet with officials of major port operations, including Camden, Wilmington, and Philadelphia, and to see the ports in operation. They met with officials of the International Longshoremen's Association, importers, processors, and terminal operators. They also toured the Del Monte facility and observed the speed, efficiency, and skill of the work of the longshoremen as they off-loaded a reefer vessel, Hyde said.
The delegates also attended a full-day food inspection seminar organized by InterConsult and Produce Services of America. This was the most important part of the tour, Hyde said. Delegates heard presentations by federal and private commercial entities whose standards produce must meet. The most notable authority was the US Department of Agriculture, and officials from several of its critical divisions-Agriculture Marketing Service, Investigations Branch, PACA, and Plant Protection and Quarantine. USDA officials outlined how they deal with pest control and with sanitary and health requirements.
A compliance officer and an investigator from the US Food and Drug Administration discussed how the USDA scrutinizes product for admissibility and appropriate seasonality. Later, several representatives of US Customs presented governmental requirements and restrictions.
"The delegates were assured by each and every government representative that their departments were not to be viewed as adversaries or obstacles to the exporter," Hyde said. "Instead, they stressed that their objectives are cooperation and accessibility, and that they are always ready to answer questions and help solve problems."
Produce Services of America, a private inspection company that works for a major exporter with customers in the US, inspects perishables from a commercial standpoint. The company's work represents the next step in the import process once the product has passed federal inspections.
James Barajas, president of PSA, explained his company's inspection process. Each of the exporter's individual buyers specifies certain standards for different fruits, and the PSA matches the quality of each shipment to each specific buyer. Barajas also explained how his company helps to determine the timing of each product's entry into the market to get the best prices for the appropriate quality, based on daily and hourly market price fluctuations.
To show delegates the end of the food chain, the retail marketplace, InterConsult arranged for a visit to the produce department of Genuardi's, a supermarket chain in the Northeast. The produce buyer from Genuardi's discussed the importance of packaging and presentation to reaching the consumer and discussed the supermarket's purchasing strategies, which are dependent on changing consumer appetites.
The final event of the tour was a luncheon hosted by the Association of the Pilots of the Bay and River Delaware.
"The Food Inspection Seminar was a one-of-a-kind event," Hyde said. "I know of no other occasion when all the essential inspection entities have come together to lay out a road map for the beginning exporter."
