The events of Sept. 11, 2001, reinforced the need to enhance the security of the United States. Congress responded by passing the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (the Bioterrorism Act), which President Bush signed into law June 12, 2002.

 

Requires the owner, operator, or agent in charge of a USA or non-USA facility to submit a registration to the Secretary. For a foreign facility, the registration must include the name of the U.S. agent for the facility.

 

Requires a prior notice of imported food shipments. The notice is required to provide the article, the manufacturer and shipper, the grower (if known within the specified time in which notice is required), the country of origin, the country from which the article is shipped, and the anticipated port of entry. If notice is not provided, the article cannot be imported into the USA.

 


 

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Obama on January 4th, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus of federal regulators from responding to contamination to preventing it.

 

FDA will develop new tools to ensure that imported foods meet US standards and are safe for consumers. For example, for the first time, importers will have to verify that their foreign suppliers have adequate preventive controls in place to ensure safety, and FDA will be able to accredit qualified third party auditors to certify that foreign food facilities are complying with U.S. food safety standards.

 

Food Import System

 

  

 

With almost 20 million shipments from hundreds of countries coming into the US last year a number that is continuing to rise, a basic challenge for the FDA is how best to insure that these imported products are safe. But by the end of this year FDA inspectors across the country will begin to use a new web-base system called PREDICT -- a name that mirrors the Agencys new approach to food and medical product safety: prevent problems before they occur.

 

This video explains how this new system works and how it will enhance the FDA's ability to identify imported products that could pose a risk to public health and safety.


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Prevention.
FDA proposes to require food facilities to renew their FDA registrations every two years, and allow FDA to modify the registration categories.
Intervention.
FDA is seeking authorization to accredit highly-qualified third parties, like register-FDA for voluntary food inspections.