The Office for the Under Secretary for Food Safety, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration have announced an October 4, 2011, public meeting in Washington, D.C., to provide information and receive public comments on draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the 19th session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) on October 17-21 in Cairns, Australia. CCFICS is responsible for such things as “harmonizing methods and procedures which protect the health of consumers, ensure fair trading practices and facilitate international trade in foodstuffs.” Agenda items include relevant activities of the World Health Organization and draft guidelines for national food-control systems. See Federal Register, September 27, 2011.
Tag Archives import/export
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a consumer update reassuring the public about the safety of apple juice after a TV talk show claimed that certain brands contain high levels of arsenic. Mehmet Oz, who hosts “The Dr. Oz Show,” apparently sent 50 apple juices samples to EMSL Analytical, Inc., which measured total arsenic levels as high as 36 parts per billion (ppb) in one sample. After learning of the results, FDA sent two letters to the show’s producers asking them not to air the segment, not only because the results seemed “erroneously high” but also because the laboratory only considered the total amount of arsenic. “As we have previously advised you, the results from total arsenic tests CANNOT be used to determine whether a food is unsafe because of its arsenic content,” stated FDA in its September 9, 2011, letter. “We have explained to you that arsenic occurs…
According to a news source, Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc. has indicated, as part of its campaign to counter allegations that its cantaloupes, imported from Guatemala, were tainted with Salmonella, that it intends to sue the Oregon Health Authority and a public health official for making “misleading allegations” about its products. Company Vice President Dennis Christou reportedly said, “These statements were made despite the lack of a substantive factual basis for the allegations and the failure to adequately investigate the true source of the contamination.” Information about litigation Del Monte filed against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking to lift an import alert related to its Guatemalan cantaloupes appears in Issue 407 of this Update. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has criticized the company for taking action against government agencies, stating in a press release, “FDA and Oregon used state-of-the-art techniques to identify the food…
Wired magazine’s “Superbug” blogger Maryn McKenna recently published an article questioning China’s food safety record after reports surfaced that 11 people from one Xinjiang province village died “and anywhere from 120 to 140 were sickened” by vinegar contaminated with ethylene glycol. According to McKenna, “The vinegar had been stored in barrels that previously contained antifreeze,” although investigators have not yet determined “whether the vinegar was put in the barrels out of ignorance, making it a problem of accidental contamination, or deliberately by an unscrupulous producer seeking to cut corners.” In either case, McKenna warns, the scandal closely follows allegations that “aged” vinegar from Shanxi province is “dosed with industrial acid in order to cut fermentation time and turn out batches faster.” It also adds to a growing roster of China’s food safety problems that purportedly include “the meat that glowed in the dark; the tainted buns; the exploding watermelons; the…
“A third or more of all the honey consumed in the U.S. is likely to have been smuggled in from China and may be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals,” writes reporter Andrew Schneider in an August 15, 2011, Food Safety News article investigating the U.S. honey trade. Building on earlier media stories such as a January 5, 2011, Globe and Mail exposé covered in Issue 377 of this Update, the latest feature includes U.S. Customs import data indicating, for example, that the United States “imported 208 million pounds of honey over the past 18 months,” with almost 60 percent or 123 million pounds coming “from Asian countries—traditional laundering points for Chinese honey,” and “45 million pounds from India alone.” “This should be a red flag to FDA [the Food and Drug Administration] and the federal investigators. India doesn’t have anywhere near the capacity—enough bees—to produce 45 million pounds…
The United States and Mexico have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that resolves a long-haul, cross-border trucking dispute involving “retaliatory tariffs” on more than $2 billion in U.S. exports, including food and agricultural products. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the July 6, 2011, agreement will “lift tariffs and put safety first.” Under the agreement, Mexico will immediately suspend half of the retaliatory tariffs imposed in March 2009, with the remaining 50 percent to be removed within five days of the first Mexican trucking company receiving U.S. operating authority. In return, Mexican long-haul truck drivers will be allowed to ship goods into the United States after complying with, among other things, the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and electronic vehicle monitoring designed to track “hours-of-service compliance” to ensure that drivers make cross-border shipments and not “domestic cargo between points within the United States.” According to U.S. Agriculture…
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has reportedly issued a preliminary ruling that U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL) laws violate the organization’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. According to Feedstuffs, a WTO panel found that COOL “constitutes an illegal, non-tariff trade barrier that treats U.S. livestock and perishable commodities more favorably than livestock, fruits and vegetables and other covered commodities from Canada and Mexico.” The preliminary ruling will remain confidential for 30 days with a final version slated for release in September 2011, when the United States will have two months to appeal. See Feedstuffs, May 25, 2011. News of the preliminary ruling has since elicited a favorable reaction from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), which described the decision as “unfortunate for the U.S. government” but a positive development for industry. As NCBA President Bill Donald explained, “Proponents of COOL have always believed that restricting imports of Mexican and/or Canadian…
Food & Water Watch has issued a report cautioning that potentially unsafe food from China may likely provide the next food safety scare in the United States. Titled “A Decade of Dangerous Food Imports from China,” the report describes “where [Chinese] food manufacturers are legendary for cutting corners, substituting dangerous ingredients, and compromising safety in order to boost sales.” Noting that U.S. food safety oversight has “not remotely” kept pace with China’s food exports that have tripled over the past decade, the report recommends (i) “revisiting the current trade agenda to make public health, environmental standards and consumer safety the highest priorities”; (ii) “removing agriculture from the WTO” (World Trade Organization), which “has been a failure for U.S. farmers and has encouraged companies to offshore food manufacturing to places like China with low wages and weak regulatory standards, putting consumers around the world at risk”; (iii) “restarting the assessment of…
The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) Food and Nutrition Board has announced a June 7, 2011, meeting that will focus on the safety of imported foods “with the purposed of engaging science, technology, and policy personnel representing the global food supply chain, government agencies, and academia.” Titled “Food Forum Meeting on Supply Chain and Policy/Regulatory Approaches to Import Safety,” the meeting will include a morning panel featuring actors representing the supply chain “from producer to retailer/food service provider” and an afternoon panel of government officials representing “governance processes from the state to global level.” By focusing on the Food and Drug Administration’s new authority granted under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), including “importer accountability, third party certification, certification for high risk foods, voluntary qualified importer program, and authority to deny entry,” the meeting aims to “provide perspectives and ideas useful for the development and implementation of the multifaceted import tools available…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report criticizing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) oversight of imported seafood safety. Noting that about one-half of imported seafood comes from fish farms that may use antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections, the report claims that “residues of some drugs can cause cancer and antibiotic resistance.” Titled “FDA Needs to Improve Oversight of Imported Seafood and Better Leverage Limited Resources,” the report urges FDA to enhance its import sampling program. “FDA’s oversight program to ensure the safety of imported seafood from residues of unapproved drugs is limited, especially as compared with the European Union,” the report states, adding that FDA inspectors “generally do not visit the farms to evaluate drug use or the capabilities, competence, and quality control of laboratories that analyze the seafood.” The report also recommends that FDA (i) “study the feasibility of adopting practices used by other entities to…
