FDA PROPOSES MARKING RULES FOR UNSAFE FOOD IMPORTS

FDA PROPOSES MARKING RULES FOR UNSAFE FOOD IMPORTS    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Food and Drug Administration    has proposed new marking rules for unsafe food imports.
   The agency said that unsafe food should be marked “United States Refused Entry” to prohibit importers from attempting to re-import the products through other ports.
   In recent years, the FDA has encountered increasing imports of food into the United States. Since 1985, the number of individual shipments requiring FDA oversight rose from 950,000 to over 3 million in 1998.
   Meanwhile, the FDA has faced increasing scrutiny from the General Accounting Office and Congress over unsafe food imports slipping undetected into the country. The agency examines and samples less than 2 percent of imported foods for compliance checks annually.
   “The mark should make it more difficult for imported food products (including animal feed) that have been refused admission into the United States to evade import controls and would complement FDA’s efforts to monitor food imports more effectively,” the agency said.
   An FDA employee or FDA-designated official would supervise the marking process.
   The agency will accept comments from the industry about the proposed marking rule at its Rockville, Md.-based Dockets Management Branch through April 9.