FDA wants U.S. food safety standards enforced by importers

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2012 file photo, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The FDA proposed new steps Friday to ensure that fresh produce, cheeses and other foods imported into the United States are safe. The proposed rules, required by a sweeping food safety law passed by Congress 2 1/2 years ago, are meant to establish better checks on what long has been a scattershot effort at guarding against unsafe food imported from more than 150 countries. Only around 2 percent of that food is inspected by the government at ports and borders. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) less FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2012 file photo, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The FDA proposed new steps Friday to ensure that fresh ... more Photo: Susan Walsh, Associated Press Photo: Susan Walsh, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close FDA wants U.S. food safety standards enforced by importers 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Washington --

More than two years after Congress passed a landmark law meant to prevent the importation of contaminated food that sickens Americans, the Food and Drug Administration proposed rules Friday that for the first time put the main onus on companies to police the food they import.

Major food importers and consumer advocates generally praised the new rules, but the advocates also said they worried the rules may give the companies too much discretion about whether to conduct on-site inspections of the places where the food is grown and processed. They said such inspections must be mandated.

The law itself grapples, in part, with problems that have grown out of an increasingly globalized food supply. About 15 percent of food that Americans eat comes from abroad, more than double what it was just 10 years ago, including nearly two-thirds of fruits and vegetables. And the safety of the food supply - foreign and domestic - is a critical public health issue. One in every 6 Americans becomes ill from eating contaminated food each year, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, FDA commissioner, estimated. About 130,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.

The FDA has tried to keep tabs on imports, but, in reality, only manages to inspect 1 to 2 percent of all imports at U.S. ports and borders.

The new rules would subject imported foods to the same safety standards as food produced domestically and require companies importing the food to make sure it meets those standards. U.S. companies would have to prove that their foreign suppliers had controls in place with audits of the foreign facilities, food tests and reviews of records, among other methods. The companies would be allowed to hire outside auditors to make on-site inspections - if such inspections are ultimately required.

Consumer advocates said that the test will be whether importers are required to conduct such on-site audits, or whether that is left to the companies' discretion, as one option proposed in the draft rules would allow. If that option becomes final it would effectively allow the industry to police itself, advocates said.

"Without more clarity, this could end up as a paper exercise," said Erik Olson, head of food programs at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the FDA, said the different options simply reflected an effort to be flexible in a very complex food supply.

These are the last major rules needed to implement the Food Safety and Modernization Act, a 2010 law that was the first significant update of the agency's food safety authority in 70 years. The rules will be open to public comment for 120 days.