To Our Valued Customers and Members of the Media:
As you may have read in the news from this week, a salmonella outbreak was found on papayas of one Mexican Maradol Papaya label. We are very concerned about the developments, as many people have been sickened. The safety of the consumers is our utmost priority and we are reaching out to our retail and wholesale clients and their Food Safety Departments directly.
The papayas sold by HLB Specialties are not affected by this outbreak.
It is important to understand the distinction between the different papaya varieties and countries of origin. As of Friday, July 21, 2017, the outbreak was limited to exclusively one Mexican Maradol Papaya label.
Tainung papayas from Guatemala, Golden papayas from Brazil, and our organic and conventional Formosa and Maradol papayas from Mexico are not affected and not part of this outbreak.
Food Safety is a very important part of our family business. We follow all food safety guidelines put in place by FDA as well as third party certifying agencies that continuously monitor our growers' work.
In an effort to provide more information to the media and consumers, we have made several posts on our social media channels and contacted all major produce industry publications. To follow our posts, please see our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages by searching @hlbspecialties or clicking on the links.
The investigation is ongoing and we will keep you informed as more information becomes available. If you have any questions or concerns, please call or email our office: 954-475-8808, usa@hlbspec.com.
Below is a Case Count Map made available by the CDC. For more information, please see the CDC announcement below:
https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/kiambu-07-17/index.html
Source: HLB Specialties