FDA chief holds off on field lab closures

FDA chief holds off on field lab closures U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach said the agency will suspend closure of more than half of its field laboratories until after it receives the results of a presidential panel investigation into food imports safety.
   “Once we have the benefit of that information, we can come back again to the more fundamental question of how do we create a field operation that is adapted to and equipped to manage the converging challenges and converging complexities of our ability to ensure the quality of the products that FDA regulates,” von Eschenbach said in an Associated Press news report Wednesday.
   On July 18, President Bush formed the Import Safety Working Group. The panel will make its recommendations to the administration within the next 60 days.
   The FDA has been under intense public pressure since the recent discovery of contaminated pet food ingredients imported from China. The contaminant caused the death of a number of pets after it entered the food chain. Other high profile cases of unsafe food and consumer product imports have also been reported in recent months.
   The AP said the FDA is already considering better ways to collaborate with Customs and Border Protection on food import safety.