Hillary's import safety plan

Hillary has latched on to import safety as a campaign issue, with many of the same solutions that have been put forward by Democrats in Congress this legislative session. There is no doubt if Hillary wins next year's election the regulatory framework for produce will change. There will be no more hand-wringing over the lack of industry progress in traceability; the government will simply mandate it.

Doug Powell of the KSU Food Safety Network provides this link to a press release from Hillary Clinton's campaign. The topic? Import safety. Her solutions: mandatory recall authority, restricted ports of entry for some foods and a mandatory traceback system. From the release:

Hillary will implement a broad import safety agenda, including:
Creating a single food safety agency responsible for overseeing all federal food safety activities.
Banning lead in children’s products.
Requiring independent third-party testing for imported toys.
Holding foreign producers of drugs, toys, and food to American safety requirements, and holding importers liable for the products they bring into this country.
Imposing stiffer civil penalties and pursuing criminal prosecutions against companies that put our children and citizens at risk.
Increasing the number of inspectors at ports of entry and in foreign countries to verify that our safety rules are being followed.
Mandating and fully funding Country of Origin Labeling.
Appointing a Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission whose first priority is protecting the public - not industry




Here is more detail from the release on a couple of important talking points:

Give our safety agencies mandatory recall authority and direct them to create a national tracing system so we can determine the origin of tainted food. Hillary will authorize the FDA and USDA to mandate recalls of tainted products. Right now, the FDA and USDA lack mandatory recall authority. She will also direct the FDA, USDA, and CDC to establish an integrated national traceback system to help regulators trace food products and ingredients from their point of sale back to their origin. At present, there are gaps in our ability to determine the source of unsafe food and animal feed, which hinders efforts to control outbreaks and curb them before they spread. We must ensure that we have adequate tracking and monitoring mechanisms in place to ensure the health of our livestock, our farmers and our consumers nationwide.

Improve our nation’s import inspection system, with more inspectors, fewer ports of entry, and upgraded testing laboratories. Hillary will:
More than double the number of FDA food inspectors to 4,500, and direct the additional personnel to increase the number and improve the effectiveness of import inspections at U.S. ports of entry. Add personnel and upgrade equipment at existing test labs.
Direct the FDA to designate ports of entry for certain types of at-risk food products and post inspectors at all of them. Right now, there are more than 300 ports of entry but the FDA posts inspectors at less than 100.
Require that products subject to import alerts be tested in certified labs. Prohibit unaudited labs from giving food products a clean bill of health.