FDA witness, Michael Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, testified in Congress on Wednesday. He made the case before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee that FDA needs greater resources to fulfill the legislative and regulatory mandate of FSMA.
“We will continue our efforts to make the best use of the resources we have, but I can say with absolute certainty that we cannot do all that is asked of us without additional resources,” said Taylor.
Dingell, US Rep., asked Taylor to submit details about what the agency would require. When FSMA was approved in 2010, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that FDA would need an increase of more than $580 million to fund the expanded food safety activities.
The activities include implementing the Foreign Supplier Verification Program; conducting more foreign inspections; working more closely on food safety with foreign governments to leverage their efforts; and improving FDA’s data and import systems to facilitate prompt entry of foods that meet the safety standards.
According to the report to Congress on Building Domestic Capacity to Implement FSMA, FDA requires an additional $400-450 million to fulfill the FSMA mandate.
The President’s FY 2014 Budget proposed two fees. One is a registration fee for those domestic and foreign food facilities which are required to register with FDA; The second is an import use fee of a minimal amount (about $20) per line entry, meaning each portion of a shipment offered for import listed as a separate item on an entry document.
Domestic vs foreign rules was another hot topic. FSMA still has more supporters than opponents, but opponents do exist. Gary Black, Agriculture Commissioner, said he would fight proposed federal food-safety regulations that he said would cripple Georgia’s produce industry. Georgia farmers are concerned the new rules will leave them unable to compete with cheaper imports that aren’t held to the same standards, in an “even playing field.”
“If we have to lead from our industry here and our congressional delegation here, then by gum, that’s what we’ll do,” he said.
The proponents of ‘fair and equal treatment’ argue that 75% of rules are for domestic products currently, whereas 60% of fresh fruits and vegetables and 80% of seafood supply come from abroad. Taylor response was "The foreign supplier verification proposed rule, would require importers to perform certain risk-based activities to verify that food imported into the US has been produced using processes and procedures that provide the same level of public health protection as those required of domestic food producers under the preventive controls or produce safety regulations."
But most significantly, the FSMA, for the first time, gives FDA authority to recall all food imports, as currently food companies issue recalls voluntarily. Watch out!
The regulations are signed into law in early 2011, and Al Green, US Rep., asked why it took so long to begin releasing regulations. Taylor just stated that it was a function of the complexity of the issues. All FSMA regulations are subject to a court imposed deadline of June 30, 2015. Unless and until the regs are finalized, foreign and domestic producers/food manufacturers, importers, and shippers will be operating in uncertain territory.
Stay tuned. We’ll be watching these developments for all GFSF members.
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