In following up with a 2001 assessment of the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration's imported seafood safety program, the U.S. Government
Account Office issued "FDA's Imported Seafood Safety Program Shows Some
Progress but Further Improvements are Needed" (GAO 04-246) on March 3,
2004. [The original report from 2001 is entitled "Federal Oversight of
Seafood Does Not Sufficiently Protect Consumers" (GAO 01-204).]
The 2004 GAO report recommends that FDA:
(1) work toward developing a memorandum of understanding with NOAA to use
NOAA's resources;
(2) make it a priority to establish equivalence or other agreements,
starting with countries having high-quality food safety systems;
(3) develop a system to track the time involved in processing enforcement
actions;
(4) give enforcement priority to violations posing the most serious risks;
(5) consider accrediting private laboratories; and
(6) explore the potential for certifying third-party inspectors. FDA
generally agreed with all but the recommendation on making it a priority
to establish equivalence or other agreements.
The GAO Reports are available on line as .pdf files:
1. "FDA's Imported Seafood Safety Program Shows Some Progress, but
Further Improvements Are Needed," 2004, 61 p.,
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04246.pdf
2. "Federal Oversight of Seafood Does Not Sufficiently Protect
Consumers," 2001, 66 p., http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01204.pdf
The National Fisheries Institute (U.S.) position statement on the current
GAO report is available on the web at:
http://www.nfi.org/?a=news&b=eMedia+Kit&c=&x=3001
Pamela Tom
======================================================================
Pamela Tom, Seafood Extension Program Manager
Web: http://seafood.ucdavis.edu - Seafood Network Information Center
Mailing Address: Food Science & Technology Dept.
University of California
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616-8598 USA
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Mar 06 2004 - 23:46:50 PST