Food Safety

With the number of imported food shipments increasing--more than doubling during the past six years--ensuring the safety of imported foods becomes more challenging. GAO found that the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) current controls provide little assurance that shipments targeted for inspection are actually inspected or that shipments found to violate U.S. safety standards are destroyed or reexported. Because importers, rather than FDA, retain custody over shipments throughout the import process, some importers have been able to substitute goods targeted for inspection or products that have been refused entry and must be reexported or destroyed. Moreover, the Customs Service and FDA do not effectively coordinate their efforts to ensure that importers are notified that their refused shipments must be reexported or destroyed. Finally, Customs' penalties for violations may provide little incentive for compliance because they are too low in comparison with the value of the imported products or they are not imposed at all. As a result of these weaknesses, shipments that failed to meet U.S. safety standards have been distributed domestically.

GAO noted that: (1) the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) controls provide little assurance that shipments targeted for inspection are actually inspected or that shipments found to violate U.S. safety standards are destroyed or reexported; (2) because importers, rather than FDA, retain custody over shipments throughout the import process, some importers have been able to provide substitutes for products targeted for inspection or products that have been refused entry and must be reexported or destroyed, according to Customs Service and FDA officials; (3) moreover, Customs and FDA do not effectively coordinate their efforts to ensure that importers are notified that their refused shipments must be reexported or destroyed; (4) Customs' penalties for violating inspection and disposal requirements may provide little incentive for compliance because they are too low in comparison with the value of the imported products or they are not imposed at all; (5) as a result of these weaknesses, shipments that failed to meet U.S. safety standards were distributed in domestic commerce; (6) because the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) requires unique identification marks on, and maintains custody of, each shipment of imported foods under its jurisdiction, GAO did not find similar weaknesses in FSIS' controls over the shipments reviewed, although GAO did identify some coordination problems between FSIS and Customs; (7) federal controls would be strengthened by consistently implementing current procedures and by adopting new procedures; (8) Customs and FDA officials and representatives of importer and broker associations identified a number of ways to improve agencies' controls over incoming shipments, strengthen interagency coordination, and provide stronger deterrents against repeat violators; and (9) each of these approaches has advantages and disadvantages that should be considered before making any changes.