Living the food safety trail.

By Tad Thompson

In 1998 several dozen people in the United States got sick from Cyclospora exposure. Cyclospora cayetanesis is a one-celled parasite that is transferred by water or food.

The US Food & Drug Administration interviewed those who got sick. A common thread was largely that they had consumed Guatemalan raspberries.

I had long been a friend of many Guatemalan berry growers. The Guatemalan Berry Committee asked me to work with the North American press and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta to help clear up the problems. I sat with my friends in a US Senate hearing and had Senator Snow shaking her finger at me. Maybe you've not 'made it' until you've been yelled at in the hallowed halls of the US Senate...?

The FDA had researchers all over Guatemalan berry vineyards. They could not find one piece of evidence to associate Cyclospora with a single Guatemalan vineyard.

Still, the empirical evidence was what it was and the Guatemalan berry industry -- and the national department of agriculture -- worked with a food safety expert from the Food Marketing Institute in Washington, D.C. to design a food safety program for all Guatemalan agriculture. The rest of the international produce industry has caught up with Guatemala by now, but Guatemala first had standards that were unsurpassed by any country in the world.

I shot these March 2009 pictures at Planessa, which is about 45 minutes from Antigua, Guatemala. Planessa is owned by my friend Roberto Castaneda, who was one of the few growers whose business survived the Guatemalan berry scare. Roberto has aggressively developed and patented new berry varieties. He has a great family and is a very nice guy.

A lot of the raspberry business moved to Mexico after problems in Guatemala. But Planessa and others have continued to expand and prosper. Planessa also has plantations in Mexico.

I never had special concerns about the safety their product and now Guatemalan produce should be especially safe for consumers.