FDA Releases Report on Strategy for Imported Food

FDA released a report on their strategy for ensuring the safety of food imported into this country.  Full report can be found here.

First, a few facts

• There is a continued 15 year trend of increasing importation of food 
• Annually, the US imports:
• 32 percent of the fresh vegetables, 
• 55 percent of the fresh fruit, and 
• 94 percent of the seafood 
• US imports food from more than 200 countries or territories and approximately 125,000 exporting food facilities plus farms
• In 2019, between 14 and 15 million shipments of imported food are expected to enter the United States
• Mexico accounts for the largest percentage of shipments followed by Asia.

FDA applies the same U.S. food safety requirements to all food consumed in the United States, regardless of whether the facility or farm that produces the food is located within the United States or half way across the globe.  But the strategy for overseeing this is different than for domestic product.  Much of this is based upon a risk based approach with focus on highest risk items with a continued optimization of the process.  It also utilizes partnerships as well as pre-approvals.

GOAL 1: Food Offered for Import Meets U.S. Food Safety Requirements

Objectives

1. Optimize use of foreign inspections
2. Ensure importer use of verified foreign suppliers through effective implementation of the Foreign Supplier Verification Programs final rule
3. Take into account the public health assurances of reliable audits such as those issued under FDA’s Accredited Third-Party Certification Program or pursuant to other assurance programs aligned with FDA food safety requirements
4. Incentivize importers to use verified suppliers of safe food through the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program
5. Leverage the oversight efforts of regulatory counterparts with strong food safety systems
6. Increase awareness of and training on food safety requirements and strengthen the capacity of foreign suppliers to produce safe food

GOAL 2: FDA Border Surveillance Prevents Entry of Unsafe Foods

Objectives

1. Continue to enhance and refine FDA’s import screening and entry review processes
2. Optimize use of physical examination and sampling of imported food
3. Strategically utilize import alerts and import certifications
4. Improve testing methodologies and tools used to determine admissibility of food offered for import
5. Maximize the benefit to border surveillance from state and other partnerships

GOAL 3: Rapid and Effective Response to Unsafe Imported Food

1. Maximize effectiveness of FDA response to an event involving an imported food
2. Enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of imported food safety recalls
3. Use information-sharing opportunities to prepare for and respond to the entry of unsafe imported food

GOAL 4: Effective and Efficient Food Import Program

1. Optimize resource allocation by developing a comprehensive global inventory of food facilities and farms and assessing the cumulative oversight applied to the global inventory
2. Ensure effectiveness of import activities through performance assessment and continuous improvement