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Summary

U.S. officials continue to assert that the U.S. food supply, including the portion provided through imports, is among the safest in the world. One challenge has been how to keep it safe in the face of steadily rising imports, a result of globalization and consumer desire for a wider variety of foods year-round. The issue of import safety was the focus of numerous congressional hearings and bills in the 110th Congress, and is expected to be high on the policy agenda of the 111th Congress. Does the U.S. safety system, first created at a time when most Americans obtained their foods domestically, adequately protect public health? What, if any, changes should be made to enhance the safety of food imports? Critics argue that major reforms are necessary because the present programs are both poorly designed and inadequately funded to meet today?s challenges. An opposing argument is that imported foods already are subject to the same safety standards as? and pose no greater hazards than?domestically produced foods. An early argument of the Bush Administration was that smarter allocation of existing resources, and the food industry?s own controls, could and should be capable of addressing any problems. In early December 2007 a science advisory board of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Science Board concluded that the agency ?s overall appropriation, now at about $1.5 billion, should be more than doubled in the next several years if it is to meet its current responsibilities, including but not limited to food safety. Congress did provide the FDA with some increased funding for FY2008 and part of FY2009. The Bush Administration in November 2007 also had issued new policy recommendations on food safety and on import safety. Although these recommendations received some attention in the 110th Congress, by the second session many stakeholders were focusing on draft bills circulated by the chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The proposals differed in detail, but both sought broad reforms in FDA?s oversight of food and drug safety, including of imports. Another comprehensive bill, S. 3385 also called for broad reforms in food safety oversight. Numerous other food safety bills in the 110th Congress addressed one or more aspects of food import safety. Elements of these bills could re-emerge in legislative proposals expected to be introduced into the 111th Congress.

Related Legislation:
• S.3385

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