FDA CONSIDERS DRUG RESIDUE RULES FOR IMPORTS

FDA CONSIDERS DRUG RESIDUE RULES FOR IMPORTS    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants comments regarding the implementation of the import tolerances provisions of the Animal Drug Availability Act of 1996.
   The ADAA (Section 4) authorizes the FDA to establish “drug residue tolerances” for imported food products of animal origin for drugs that are used by other countries, but are unapproved animal drugs in the United States. Food products of animal origin that are in compliance with the import tolerance will not be considered illegal to import into the country.
   “We plan to propose a regulation for establishing import tolerances,” the FDA said. “We plan to hold a public meeting on import tolerances during the comment period for this advance notice of proposed rulemaking … “We also will work with the Food Safety Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies in the development of the proposed regulation,” the FDA said.
   Comments may be sent to the FDA’s Docket Management Branch (HFA-305) at 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, Md. 20852, or on-line at https://www.fda.gov/dockets/comments. For more information, contact Frances Pell at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, at (301) 827-0188.