Regulating Risks in Imports of Foods of Non-animal Origin: The U.S. Food Industry Perspective

Abstract

United States of America imports 50 and 20 % of fresh fruits and vegetables, respectively. This behaviour may create considerable opportunities for intentional and unintentional food safety risks for the nation’s food supply. The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for inspecting all foods of non-animal origin being imported in the United States of America. One of the major changes following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 was the promulgation of the ‘Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act’ of 2002 (U.S. Congress 2002). This act has provided the Food and Drug Administration with more oversight over national food imports in cooperation with the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. However, due to cost, time and logistics involved in the physical inspection of foods, less than 3 % of imported foods are inspected. Electronic screening and tools such as the ‘Predictive Risk-based Evaluation for Dynamic Import Compliance Targeting’ computer system have made the system less manual. However, this strategy cannot completely replace sampling and analyses for detection of microbiological hazards and other risks (including allergens, naturally occurring toxins, pesticides, drug residues and other physical, biological and chemical contaminants). Another milestone in overhauling the nation’s food safety has been the introduction of the Food Safety Modernization Act in January 2011. This act requires food industry to follow risk-based approach with more emphasis towards self-regulating the food safety through proposed controls such as foreign supplier verification programs. The fresh vegetables and fruits industry is highly involved with public health.