Bush announces safety plan for imports

Bush announces safety plan for imports President Bush, acting on the recommendations of an interagency study group, on Tuesday called for a limited certification program for foreign food producers, strengthening the power of the Food and Drug Administration to order recalls of unsafe products and increasing the presence of U.S. inspectors in foreign countries to ensure the safety of imported products.
   The working group, headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, was formed last summer after a spate of recalls and public ire over tainted or below-standard pet food, toothpaste, fish, toys and tires imported from China. Mattel’s Fisher-Price division, for example, announced on the day of the report that it had recalled 155,000 kitchen toys made in Mexico because of potential choking hazards. And Swimways Corp. of Virginia Beach, Va., recalled 31,000 “Skippy” pool toys made in China because they can cut children’s hands.
   “The United States is one of the most open markets in the world, and our consumers are better off because they have a wide variety of products from across the world to choose from,” President Bush said in speech from the White House. “And while we have strong food and product safety standards, we need to do more to ensure that American families have confidence in what they find on our store shelves. They have the right to expect the food they eat, or the medicines they take, or the toys they buy for their children to be safe.”
   The panel rejected calls for more random inspections of food and other products at the border, saying such an approach is a haphazard use of resources and would damage the economy by slowing import trade that totaled nearly $2 trillion in 2006 and involved 825,000 companies. Instead, it placed great emphasis on prevention throughout the supply chain using risk-management techniques modeled on existing security and safety programs in which trusted shippers can enter their goods quickly while higher-risk shipments are targeted for inspection.
   The import safety action plan proposes:
   ' Exporters for certain high-risk foods in a particular country go through a certification process that they meet FDA standards in order to export to the United States. In addition, voluntary certification should be encouraged for foreign manufacturers of other products who wish to receive expedited entry.
   ' Provide incentives to importers to maintain the highest safety practices for products that carry greater risk.
   ' Increase transparency — a good import seal of approval of sorts — by making public the names of certified producers and importers of record so that consumers and distributors can make informed decisions about product safety.
   ' Sharing of real-time product and compliance data between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other federal agencies so better decisions can be made about the admissibility of import shipments. The plan also recommends that strategic information sharing agreements be concluded with key foreign governments, in order to facilitate the exchange of import and recall data.
   ' Help improve training of foreign inspection agencies to help build their capacity to ensure the safety of products exported to the United States, and increase the presence of U.S. inspectors abroad to visit manufacturers and producers to check on their safety levels.
   ' Increase penalties for foreign and domestic entities that sell unsafe products in violation of the law.
   “Under this approach, we will focus on stopping dangerous products from reaching our border in the first place — for example, by ensuring that food and consumer products meet our standards for safety before they leave their home countries,” Bush said.
   The FDA concurrently released its own Food Protection Plan that addressed both imported and domestically produced food. A key part of both plans is to give the FDA the power to recall a product when a company refuses to recall their product voluntarily, or moves too slowly to remove the product from the market. Recalls are currently done on a voluntary basis by companies, with prodding from the government.
   Several bills in Congress also attempt to provide some of the solutions outlined in the reports.
   To read the entire plan of the Import Safety Working Group, go to www.importsafety.gov/report/actionplan.pdf.