The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed two long-awaited rules aimed at strengthening assurances that imported food meets the same safety standards as food produced domestically.
The new measures, which form part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), include verifying foreign suppliers and accrediting third-party auditors, FDA said in a statement.
The move by FDA has been welcomed by the Produce Marketing Association and the United Fresh Produce Association.
“The rules for imported foods and third-party auditor accreditation will have a critically important role in the safety of fresh produce,” said Tom Stenzel, president and CEO of United Fresh.
“United Fresh will immediately begin a comprehensive review of these new draft rules and work closely with FDA to ensure that they contribute to our mutual goal of continued food safety improvement.”
FDA said the rules are part of the effort mandated by Congress to “modernise the food safety system and focus on preventing food safety problems, rather than relying primarily on responding to problems after they have occurred”.
According to FDA, the new measures respond to the challenges of food safety in today’s global food system given that imported food comes into the US from around 150 different countries and accounts for about 15 per cent of US food supply.
Foreign Supplier Verification Program
Under the proposed rule for Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP), importers would need to verify that their suppliers are meeting the same US safety standards required of domestic producers.
Requirements for verification activities would be primarily based on the type of food, nature of the hazard identified and on who – such as the foreign supplier, the importer, or the importer’s customer – is best able to control the hazard.
If a US importer fails to satisfy the FSVP requirement, then its entries of food are subject to import refusal, FDA stated.
FDA warned foreign food suppliers to also verify the FSVP compliance of their US importers since if an importer is not complying with FSVP, FDA will stop the importers from importing food.
Accreditation of Third Party Auditors
Under the second proposed rule for Accreditation of Third Party Auditors, FDA said it would recognise accreditation bodies based on certain criteria such as competency and impartiality.
The accreditation bodies, which could be foreign government agencies or private companies, would in turn accredit third party auditors to audit and issue certifications for foreign food facilities.
Comments on the two new proposed rules on the safety of imported food are due by 120 days from the publication in the Federal Register on 29 July.
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