FDA reports progress on food import safety

FDA reports progress on food import safety The U.S. Food and Drug Administration boasted significant progress with the implementation of its wide-ranging Food Protection Plan, which puts emphasis on increased oversight of food imports into the United States.
   “Every day, the FDA is working with foreign countries, states and local governments, regulated industry and consumer groups to ensure the safety of the food supply,” said FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, in a statement.
   In terms of prevention, the FDA is establishing offices in five regions that export food and other FDA-regulated products to the United States: China, India, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The agency has already hired staff for its offices in China and India.
   The FDA was part of a recent Department of Health and Human Services delegation to China to discuss improvements to food safety, such as preventing further introductions of melamine to dairy products, which have been linked to a handful of deaths and sickened hundreds of children in China.
   The agency is also hiring an international notification coordinator to manage enhanced information exchanges between the FDA and overseas regulatory counterparts.
   In the area of intervention, the FDA and Customs and Border Protection on Oct. 31 jointly issued a final rule on prior notice of imported food shipments, and an accompanying Compliance Policy Guide.
   To improve its responsiveness to contaminated food detections, the FDA is working with the industry and public to identify best practices for tracing fresh produce throughout the supply chain.
   After reports of melamine-contaminated infant formula surfaced in China, the FDA worked with its state and local counterparts to quickly canvas more than 2,100 Asian markets to remove any infant formula from China and to sample milk-derived products to check for melamine contamination.
   The complete one-year summary of progress under the FDA’s Food Protection Plan is available online at www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/progressreport1108.html, and the Food Protection Plan is available at www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/plan/html.
   In related news, the FDA on Tuesday announced the participants in the second phase of its pilot program for voluntary third-party certification programs for imported aquacultured shrimp.
   Phase II, which will run through June 2009, will help the FDA develop the process for evaluating third-party certification programs. The pilot will allow the FDA to identify and address technical and operational issues in assessing certification programs and processing certifications. The agency added that the information would help it to move towards broader recognition of voluntary third-party certification programs.
   Participants in Phase II of the program include Bureau Veritas Group Co.; Global Aquaculture Alliance/Aquaculture Certification Council; Inspectorate America Corp.; SGS United States Testing Co.; Commerce Department’s Seafood Inspection Service; and Thailand Department of Fisheries.
   The pilot program responds to a recommendation in President Bush’s Action Plan for Import Safety, issued in November 2007, which called for the development of voluntary third-party certification programs for overseas producers who export to the United States. ' Chris Gillis