What is FDA doing about the safety of imported foods?

The FDA has developed new procedures that target "bad actor" importers who violate the rules and undermine the country's food-handling system by bringing unsafe food into U.S. markets.

The procedures now require that food shipments from "suspect" importers be held in a secure storage facility at the importer's expense until released by the FDA. Those who falsify documents or otherwise try to elude customs procedures also may be subject to fines up to the total value of the merchandise.

Some importers attempt to get around FDA regulations by "port shopping," a tactic in which the importer seeks admittance through another U.S. port when attempts at a first port have failed. In a bid to thwart the practice, FDA has proposed a rule that would require marking food shipments refused for safety reasons to indicate that the product had been previously denied entry into the United States.

In addition, FDA is developing a proposed rule that would establish standards for importers and others who use sample-collection services or private laboratories to demonstrate compliance with FDA law.

The procedures and proposals were developed in response to a July 1999 presidential directive to the secretaries of Health and Human Services and Treasury to work together to address the movement of unsafe food into the United States.

For more on the effort to tighten the rules on imported foods, read the FDA Talk Paper available on the Internet at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/tpimport.html.