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FDA Plans to Open Outpost in China

Inspectors could block contaminated food from being exported to US

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 6, 2008 6:00 AM CST
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(Newser) – America's food imports from China are rising and the Food and Drug Administration is planning to start exporting American inspectors to protect the US food supply, Reuters reports. FDA officials hope to open a China office to help them raise food safety standards and to make it easier to act quickly when problems arise. Such an operation would allow a "boots on the ground" response, explained the agency's commissioner.

The FDA is trying to rebuild consumer confidence after a spate of recent food scares, many involving Chinese imports. The agency hopes a China office would be a model for other foreign outposts that would help shift the safety burden for imports to producer countries. An office in China will need to be approved by the Chinese government, but FDA officials say Beijing has been cooperative.

Pallets with Chinese catfish fillets are tagged with Food and Drug Administration red tags marking it for inspection inside the cold storage warehouse at the Pacific American Fish Company, Inc. in Vernon, Calif. Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. China is America's biggest foreign source of seafood, the 1.06 billion pounds...
Pallets with Chinese catfish fillets are tagged with Food and Drug Administration red tags marking it for inspection inside the cold storage warehouse at the Pacific American Fish Company, Inc. in Vernon,...   (Associated Press)
A worker empties a bag of zongzi, a sticky rice dumpling, into a truck after they were confiscated from an illegal zongzi workshop in Beijing Wednesday June 13, 2007. China has been battling in recent months with growing international alarm over the safety of its food and drug exports, after...
A worker empties a bag of zongzi, a sticky rice dumpling, into a truck after they were confiscated from an illegal zongzi workshop in Beijing Wednesday June 13, 2007. China has been battling in recent...   (Associated Press)
U.S. Health Secretary Mike Leavitt, second left, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, left, look at the fruits juice production during a visit to the Huiyuan juice factory at Shunyi district in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007. U (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
U.S. Health Secretary Mike Leavitt, second left, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, left, look at the fruits juice production during a visit to the Huiyuan juice factory...   (Associated Press)
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