U.S. food suppliers suggest FDA oversee food imports

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. The country’s food supply big hitters, including Kraft Foods, H. J. Heinz, and Dole Food, now facing congressional food-safety proposals which could cost them millions of dollars a year, proposed the other day to grant the government more oversight of the industry. The plan, offered by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, covers imported food, already the subject of increasing attention from Congress. It would require all importers to develop a plan for assuring the quality of imported foods and give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) power to enforce it. Most companies already have such plans, but the FDA does not have authority over them, according to the group. The Washington Post’s Renae Merle writes that the association’s proposal would also create a voluntary program which would allow importers to submit testing records, information about their supply chain, and other data to the FDA in return for expedited processing at the borders. That would allow the FDA to focus on the riskiest importers, the group said. In keeping with the time, the proposal focuses on the increasing amount of food being imported into the United States rather than on domestic supplies. The food producers are following toy manufacturers and others who have proposed stronger self-regulation against the backdrop of increasing criticism from Congress following reports of unsafe goods coming into the country from China. The proposal is reminiscent of voluntary programs advocated by food producers last year after three people died and hundreds were sickened following an outbreak of E. coli from tainted spinach traced to California. After the E. coli outbreak, large food distributors preferred self-regulation because more government oversight could take years to put in place, they said.

Concerns over imports have risen since the FDA restricted the import of five types of seafood from China and recalled pet food containing ingredients from China tainted with melamine, an industrial toxin, this year. “Recent events have exposed some weaknesses in the nation’s food-safety net,” said Sean McBride, the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s vice president for communications. “We’re not sitting back and waiting for the government to inspect us to a safe food supply.” The proposal also calls for more resources for the FDA, a common theme among industry and consumer groups. Importers that do not have food-safety plans would risk having their shipments detained by the FDA, association officials said.

Legislatures want to go further that te association’s proposals does. Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) is promoting a hill which would require fodd suppliers to pay up to $20 per shipment to bring in the seafood, fruits, and vegetables regulated by the FDA. The industry opposes the idea of a fee on shipments. Representative Diane DeGette (D-Colorado), vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said she would continue to push for a single food agency and for giving the government the right to mandate recalls. “My proposal giving the federal government mandatory recall authority will also encourage industry to establish more-rigorous oversight of their processing and packaging operations,” she said.