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Improvements would strengthen both regulations and import inspections

WASHINGTON, DC – 10/09/07 – Food import safety officials and the food industry are proposing to ramp-up federal regulation of imported food and ingredients to address the risk that unsafe products could enter the US.

Next month, US government agencies charged with overseeing food import safety are expected to forward to President George Bush recommended actions that food producers, distributors, importers and regulators should take to strengthen food safety.

The recommendations will focus on developing more scientific and analytic tools to allow better identification of potential risks, to monitor the effectiveness of prevention measures and to increase use of information technology for inspection and surveillance.

The recommendations also will aim to reduce the time between detecting and containing a food-borne illness, David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food protection at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), told a House Appropriations subcommittee in September.

The move comes in the wake of several highly-publicized recalls of food products imported from several countries including China and charges that less than 2% of food imports entering the US are inspected despite the surge in food import entries from 4 million entries in 1997 to more than 15 million in 2006.

The food industry's largest trade group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), recently unveiled its proposal for more regulation. It reflects awareness among industry leaders that US companies, as imports rise, face increasing challenges to ensure the quality and safety of food sold to consumers.

The GMA proposal would require all US food importers to adopt a foreign supplier quality assurance program and verify that imported products meet FDA food safety requirements.

GMA President Cal Dooley told the press that the industry “wants to work with government to strengthen and modernize the US system of regulating the safety of food imports.”

Working in partnership with government, he said, the "industry can apply its vast knowledge and practical experience along the entire supply chain to prevent problems before they arise.”

Some companies, such as retail giant Costco, long ago added their own specifications to the current government regulations, based on consumer expectations for quality and safety, said Craig Wilson, the company’s vice president of food safety and quality.

He said Costco's food suppliers are located all around the world so that the company can get supplies of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats in any season.

Since 2006, US food safety agencies have increased information sharing – and thus prevention and intervention efforts – through an international trade data system maintained by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

The US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for ensuring that imports of meat, poultry and eggs entering the country are safe and properly labeled.

It is a "regimented process" of sending inspectors to countries and establishments in those countries to determine if their safety standards are equivalent to those of the US, said FSIS Administrator Alfred Almanza.

Thirty-three countries are certified to export meat to the US, and only certified establishments in those countries can ship specific foods to the country, he said.

"It’s an exciting time for those countries that are eligible to ship to the United States, as long as they meet our regulatory requirements, they can expand the number of customers,” he added.

All food coming into the US is inspected at a port of entry to ensure the contents of the shipment match information contained on the accompanying document.

Certain products are inspected a second time for such pathogens as listeria, E. coli and salmonella, and for residues in the food. These include ready-to-eat products, such as packaged salads, and products from a country or establishment with some history of noncompliance with US standards or from countries experiencing an outbreak of a disease.

If a shipment is found to be suspect, a sample of its contents is sent to one of four FSIS laboratories around the country for analysis.

FSIS and FDA, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, also host delegations from trade-partner countries interested in seeing the stages of the food safety system, from farms, to processing and packing plants to food transportation companies, Almanza said.

In addition, US agencies are working closely with state governments to adopt more uniform regulations, while the FDA has also signed an agreement with the European Food Safety Authority in Brussels to cooperate on food safety assessments.

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