[US] Imported Food Safety Verification System to,,

August 18, 2008
18 August 2008
 
Imported Food Safety Verification System to be Reviewed
 
This article is extracted from the 18 August 2008 edition of “World\Trade Interactive”.
 
As part of the federal government’s ongoing efforts to improve the safety of imported food and food products, the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection will hold a public meeting Aug. 27-28 in Washington, D.C., on how the Department of Agriculture verifies the equivalence of foreign food regulatory systems. Such verifications can have a major influence on whether an imported food product is allowed entry into the U.S. or turned back at the border.
 
Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act, equivalence is the foundation for imports and has become a condition of trade between two countries.
 
Equivalence recognizes that an exporting country can provide an appropriate level of food safety and public health protection even if its sanitary measures are different from those applied by the U.S. Once a country is determined to have a system equivalent to the U.S., that country is then responsible for maintaining the entire system’s equivalence while exporting to the U.S.
 
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service verifies that countries maintain equivalence through audits of foreign inspection systems. These audits include on-site visits by FSIS personnel of certified establishments and approved laboratories as well as FSIS review of government controls. The final audit reports for these countries are posted on the FSIS Web site.
 
Verification is also conducted by re-inspecting products at the U.S. border. Every shipment of meat, poultry or egg products that enters the U.S. must be presented to an FSIS inspector at one of the approximately 140 official FSIS import establishments located at major ocean ports of entry and land border crossings….

Topic(s): 
World Economy & Politics
Information Source: 
Canadian News Channel / International News Channel
Document Type: 
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