FDA News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2008
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FDA Reports Significant Progress in Protecting the Food Supply
The One-Year Summary of Progress under the Food Protection
Plan describes FDA’s efforts to build safety in the U.S. and global food
systems
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today released a report on its implementation
of the Food Protection Plan that was launched a year ago to protect both domestic
and imported food from accidental and intentional contamination. The Plan,
which outlines strategies for prevention, intervention and response, is designed
to address food safety and food defense for both domestic and imported products
and covers the full lifecycle of food, by encouraging the building of safety
into every step of the food supply chain.
"Science and 21st century technologies help drive the FDA's efforts
to transform our food safety efforts from the Food Protection Plan into a reality," said
Commissioner of Food and Drugs Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. "Every day,
the FDA is working with foreign countries, state and local governments, regulated
industry and consumer groups to ensure the safety of the food supply. We also
continue to work with members of Congress to achieve new authorities requested
in the Food Protection Plan."
Listed below are the highlights of the agency's accomplishments in implementing
the Food Protection Plan's three core strategies: The prevention of outbreaks
of food-borne disease, and intervention and response if they occur:
PREVENTION
- The FDA is establishing offices in five regions that export food and other
FDA-regulated products to the United States: China, India, Europe, Latin
America, and the Middle East. The FDA has already hired staff for its offices
in China and India.
- The FDA was part of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
delegation to China to address food safety issues in both countries and to
share ideas to address global food safety. U.S. and Chinese government officials
discussed recent outbreak of foodborne illness in the United States related
to fresh produce as well as the melamine contamination of dairy products
in China.
- The FDA released the CARVER self-assessment tool for industry, to minimize
the risk of intentional contamination of food, and conducted training seminars
for industry on how to use the tool.
- The FDA held a meeting of with more than 200 federal, state, local, tribal
and territorial partners to address the challenges of protecting the nation's
food supply.
- The FDA is hiring an International Notification Coordinator to manage enhanced
information exchanges between the agency and foreign counterpart regulatory
authorities.
- The FDA approved the use of irradiation of iceberg lettuce and spinach
for the control of pathogens, such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, in or on
those foods.
- The FDA developed methods to detect melamine and cyanuric acid in feed
and feed ingredients.
- The FDA is using genetic analysis to identify hundreds of Salmonella strains
from seafood imports. The analysis provides information to trace outbreaks
of Salmonella and implement surveillance programs to ensure
food safety.
INTERVENTION
- The FDA completed inspections of 5,930 high-risk domestic food establishments
during the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008.
- The FDA piloted the program for inspection and sampling of high-risk companies
in Denver and Minneapolis during the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
- A targeted, risk-based inspection of a canning facility in 2008 identified
cans with viable Clostridium botulinum spores and a recall
was initiated. The FDA initiated this inspection, along with inspections
of other Low Acid Canned Food (LACF) manufacturers, following four cases
of botulism in consumers in 2007. The FDA increased inspection efforts to
ensure that manufacturers of all types of LACF products are adhering to applicable
FDA requirements. These actions illustrate the need for companies to operate
under adequate preventive control systems.
- The FDA issued "Draft Guidance for Industry on Voluntary Third-Party
Certification Programs for Food and Feed." Docket FDA-2008-D-0381 is
available for viewing at www.regulations.gov.
- The FDA has developed a rapid detection method that uses flow cytometry
to identify E. coli and Salmonella in food, now in use
in poultry-processing facilities to detect and prevent bacterial contamination
during food processing.
- The FDA is expanding its database of adverse drug events to include adverse
feed events, which will allow the agency to respond faster to outbreaks of
feedborne disease in animals, contamination episodes, and/or product defects.
- The FDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection jointly issued a final rule
on Prior Notice of Imported Food Shipments, and an accompanying Compliance
Policy Guide (CPG) on Oct. 31, 2008; the rule and CPG were published in the Federal
Register on Nov. 7, 2008.
RESPONSE
- The FDA is working with industry and the public to identify best practices
for tracing fresh produce throughout the supply chain.
- The FDA has enhanced the agency's ability to coordinate a comprehensive
response to foodborne illness events by authoring tools used to track emergency
response resources and other locations of interest.
- The FDA hired two emergency /complaint-response coordinators to improve
its response to emergencies that involve animal feed, including pet food.
- Following the detection of melamine in infant formula and milk products
from China, the FDA worked with its state and local counterparts to rapidly
canvas over 2,100 vendors of Asian products to remove any Chinese infant
formula from the market and to sample milk-derived Chinese products to check
for melamine contamination. The FDA also provided regular updates on its
Web site, advising consumers which products to avoid because of melamine
contamination.
- The FDA held regular briefing calls for consumer organizations during the
outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul in the summer of 2008, and regularly
updated a Web page that provided information on the investigation into the
outbreak, and advised consumers how they could protect themselves and their
families.
- The FDA has signed cooperative agreements with six U.S. states to form
a Rapid Response Team to develop, implement, exercise, and integrate an all-hazards
response capability for food and foodborne illness responses, to react more
rapidly react to potential threats to our food supply.
- After reports from China of melamine-contaminated infant formula, the FDA
worked with its state and local counterparts to quickly canvas over 2,100
Asian markets to remove any infant formula from China that might be available
and to sample milk-derived products to check for melamine contamination.
The entire One-Year Summary of Progress under the Food Protection Plan is
posted at www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/progressreport1108.html,
and the Food Protection Plan is available at www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/plan.html.
The Food Protection Plan complements the Action Plan on Import Safety the
President's Working Group On Import Safety unveiled one year ago to improve
the safety of all imported products. HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt heads The Working
Group. For additional information on the FDA's activities under the Action
Plan for Import Safety, please visit: www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/imports/activities.html.
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