US: US consumer body questions food safety plan

By: just-food.com | 21 September 2007

A US consumer pressure group, has criticised the food safety proposal put forward by the US food industry body, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), earlier this week.

Consumers Union said the proposal fails to endorse necessary food safety reforms, including Country of Origin labelling and enactment of clear Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recall authority.

In polling carried out by Consumers Union, some 92% of respondents said they favoured mandatory Country of Origin labelling, while 97% believe federal agencies should have the authority to recall tainted meat.

"If the industry is serious about maintaining consumer confidence in the food supply, they must endorse these measures," said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union. "The FDA currently inspects less than 1% of the food entering the country, and has inspectors stationed at only 90 of the more than 300 ports of entry through which food may arrive. FDA must be given the resources to address these shortcomings."

Halloran added that while the GMA's proposal acknowledges that the FDA has been decimated by budget cuts over the past ten years, and needed to be rebuilt, it did not provide any suggestion of where the necessary funds might come from.

Consumers Union supports several bills in Congress which are proposing user fees on food imports to pay for increased inspection at the borders.

Earlier this week, the GMA launched its food safety "action plan", which aims to improve the effectiveness of the monitoring of food imports, following a number of prominent food safety scares.

As part of its plan, the GMA proposes that US food manufacturers would share the results of tests on food imports with the FDA. All importers would also be asked to meet a "foreign supplier quality assurance programme" to meet FDA standards on food safety.

Companies: GMA