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| Rockville, MD 20857 |
February 4, 2008
Dear Colleague:
As you know, in November 2007, Secretary Michael O. Leavitt of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, announced our Food Protection Plan, which is a comprehensive initiative by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designed to bolster efforts to better protect the nation’s food supply. The Plan is a science- and risk-based approach to help ensure the safety of domestic and imported foods eaten by American consumers.
The Food Protection Plan complements the larger U.S. Government Action Plan for Import Safety, which establishes a road map and makes short- and long-term recommendations to enhance product safety at every step of a products’ life cycle: from manufacturing through importation into the U.S. This plan is designed to improve the safety of all imported products, not just those regulated by the U.S. FDA. The two plans, together, will improve efforts by the public and private sectors to enhance the safety of a wide array of products used by American consumers.
These initiatives are part of the FDA’s effort to improve the efficiency and the efficacy of its regulation of foods and other products and better help assure the protection of U.S. consumers.
We know that the publication of both of these plans has raised many questions within the international community. Therefore, we are taking this opportunity to provide a briefing to our embassy colleagues here in Washington on these two new initiatives by senior HHS and FDA officials.
Some of the senior officials who will speak at the briefing are:
Mr. Rich McKeown, Chief of Staff, HHS
Dr. Murray Lumpkin, Deputy Commissioner, International and Special Programs, FDA
Dr. David Acheson, Associate Commissioner for Foods, FDA
Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, Director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, FDA
Dr. Bernadette Dunham, Director, Center for Veterinary Medicine, FDA
Dr. Jeff Shuren, Assistant Commissioner for Policy, Office of Policy, Planning and Preparedness, FDA
David Horowitz, Esq., Deputy Associate Commissioner for Compliance Policy, Office of Regulatory Affairs, FDA
More detailed information about the two plans is available on our website at:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food.html
Food Protection Plan (PDF): http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/plan.pdf
Food Protection Plan (html): http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/plan.html
Import Safety: http://www.Importsafety.gov
The briefing will take place on February 26, 2008, from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Hubert H. Humphrey Building ( U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 800, Washington, D.C. 20201.
Participants will be met in the lobby by FDA staff.
Because of space limitations, please let us know if you will be attending by February 18, 2007. To RSVP, and for other questions, I hope you will contact my colleague from the FDA’s Office of International Programs, Dr. Beverly Corey at 301-827-4480. Dr. Corey’s email address is Beverly.Corey@fda.hhs.gov.
Sincerely yours,
-----S-----
Murray M. Lumpkin, M.D.
Deputy Commissioner
International and Special Programs
Department
of Health and Human Services