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FDA To Establish Offices In China To Monitor Food Safety

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 November 2008, 08:05 CST

U.S. Health Department Secretary Mike Leavitt said Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would begin inspecting food from China for possible contamination before the food ever leaves the country.

The U.S. can no longer rely on simple border checks, said Leavitt, speaking before the opening of new FDA offices in China's political, financial and export centers.

"The global market has clearly changed the nature of our challenge in keeping products safe," Leavitt said, adding that imports to the U.S. would be nearly $2 trillion this year alone.

"When one sees the enormity of that it becomes clear you cannot inspect everything. It would bring the global economy into gridlock, therefore we have to change our strategy," he said during a news conference after discussions with his Chinese counterparts.

The idea of a new import safety model came amid Beijing’s call for a lifting of the ban on Chinese dairy products. Last week, the U.S. issued an import alert for Chinese-made food products, calling for any food that could not be certified as dairy-free or melamine-free to be stopped at the border. Such certification would be the burden of the importer.

The U.S. hopes the new FDA offices would work with countries much the same way as large companies work with their vendors -- contracting out pre-shipment safety and quality checks.

Andrew von Eschenbach, Commissioner of the FDA, compared tackling food safety problems with fighting a forest fire, saying it was preferable to prevent either from breaking out in the first place. Having a presence in China to work with producers is a critical way to accomplish this, he said.

The agency plans to establish two additional offices in India in December, and two more in Latin America early next year, which would follow the opening of the Beijing FDA offices.

"We are going to say to the world, we want your products in the United States ... but if you are going to have access to our consumers you need to meet the safety and quality standards that we put forward," Leavitt said.

"If they are certified we will let them through. If not, you can count on heightened scrutiny. That is our new strategy"

At least four Chinese infants died and tens of thousands made ill earlier this year from consuming milk powder tainted with melamine, a chemical used to deceive standard tests for protein.

Many countries have since started monitoring Chinese exports of milk and egg products.

Melamine-tainted pet food ingredients from China were blamed for the deaths of dogs and cats throughout the United States last year.

However, Qin Gang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said the government had successfully controlled the problem, and called on the US. Government to take “an objective and calm" approach to the matter.

"We feel deep regret that the U.S. insists on unilaterally taking these steps," Qin said during a news briefing.

"We hope the U.S. ... can lift the ban as soon as possible."

China’s Health Minister, Chen Yun, called for greater media scrutiny of the government and food suppliers.

"For our administrators, media comments may not always be pleasant, but historically it has been proved that media supervision is very important for the growth of a society, for responsible behavior of the government," he said.

He also called for more international support in improving food-testing technology, and warned that China still faced a long struggle on the issue.

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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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