Importing US food Risk - Research Paper Example

In 2008, there were some reported cases where cats and dogs were stricken by tainted pet food while people died from contaminations in certain drugs. In both incidents, the ingredients were found to have been imported from China (In Curtis, 2013).  In response to this, the Public Health Security through the Bioterrorism act directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take additional measures to protect the public from all terrorist attacks on food supply and all other food related emergencies.

FDA is the food regulatory agency of the department of Health and Human Services and has the mandate to receive prior notification of food that is imported, including animal feed, in the United States. Prior notice of import shipments give chance to the FDA, through the support of the U.S Custom and Border Protection to focus on import inspections with much effectiveness and help protect the state’s food supply against acts of terror and all other public health emergencies. The FDA food safety act was signed in 2011 with aims to ensure that the U.

S food supply is safe by directing the focus of the federal regulations from taking action on contamination to prevent it (Kastner, 2011).  The FDA signed a regulation that required all persons to submit prior notices of imported food. Close to fifty million people get sick while three thousand die each year from food borne diseases. This is according to a data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This was mentioned as a public health burden which is largely preventable.

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act enables the FDA to strengthen the systems of food safety by giving them new authorities and tools to make all new imported foods meet the same safety standards as those produced in the U.S. However, building a new system of food safety beside on prevention would take time. FDA focuses on implementing the safety acts with open grounds for all stakeholders to give their contribution. The FDA has therefore some laid down responsibilities and authorities which are aimed at improving food safety in the United States.

The FDA’s new import mandates and authorities include the following (Hinkelman and Ebrary, 2004); Import accountability. During the first time, the importers have an explicit mandate to verify that their suppliers have sufficient preventive controls to make sure that the food they produce is safe. Third party certification: The FDA Food Safety Modernization (FSMA) initiates program through which third parties can verify that foreign food capacities comply with the U.S food safety standards.

The certification is very significant in facilitating the entry of imports (Zaring et al., 2009). Cortication for high risk foods: as a condition of entry into America, FDA can authorize that the high-risk imported foods be accompanied by a trustworthy third party certification or with an assurance of compliance. Voluntary qualified importer program: a voluntary program must be established for the importers. This would provide for the expedited entry and review of foods from importers. Entitlement is limited to importers who offer food from certified facilities.

Authority to deny entry: foods from a foreign facility can be denied entry into the U.S by FDA. FDA has also a