GAO: Enhanced drug tests needed for seafood imports

The two federal agencies charged with overseeing the nation’s seafood imports must strengthen their testing for unsafe drug residues in these products, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.    A congressional watchdog agency says the two federal agencies charged with overseeing the nation’s seafood imports must strengthen their testing for unsafe drug residues in these products.
   According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 90 percent of the seafood eaten in the United States is imported, and about half of that is raised on fish farms. Farmers will frequently treat fish with antibiotics and other drugs to prevent infections. However, misuse of these drugs can leave residues in seafood that cause health problems for consumers, GAO warned.
   The Food and Drug Administration requires seafood processors and importers to follow its Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations to identify and correct against contamination in their supply chains. 
   While the FDA conducts limited annual inspections of processors and importers to ensure HACCP compliance, and tests of imported seafood for contaminants, including unsafe drug residues, GAO said the agency can enhance this activity by entering agreements with other countries to test seafood exported to the United States.
   On Sept. 17, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) took over the country’s imported catfish inspection program as part of the 2014 Agricultural Act. Countries seeking to continue exporting catfish to the United States must provide documentation showing that their catfish safety inspection systems are equivalent to the U.S. system.
   However, GAO said FSIS officials aren’t doing enough to inspect the overseas catfish producers’ sites.
   “FSIS officials generally visit government offices, commercial food processing facilities, and food testing laboratories in a foreign country,” GAO said. “Without visiting a sample of farms whose catfish are exported to the United States, FSIS may be missing an opportunity to consider the conditions under which catfish are being raised.”
   The largest foreign suppliers of farm-raised catfish to the United States in 2015 were Vietnam at 238 million pounds and China at 11 million pounds.
   GAO recommended that FDA and FSIS work together to develop testing methods for residue levels in imported seafood. “Without this coordination, the agencies do not have reasonable assurance that they are consistently protecting consumers from unsafe drug residues,” GAO said.