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The federal agency would like to level quality standards across state agencies responsible for regulating facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food by means of the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards
"This risk-based program represents a significant step in further integrating our food safety system," said Margaret O'K. Glavin, FDA's associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. "We realize it will be several years before it's fully implemented, but we're confident this program will bring great benefits to the public health."
Current challenges with Chinese-derived ingredients have revealed a no-man's land of confusion somewhere in between the resource-constrained FDA and anticipated consumer reaction.
Chinese food and cosmetic imports in particular have been put under a negative spotlight following contamination cases in recent months.
In April, wheat gluten products imported from China for use in pet food were found to have been contaminated with banned chemical melamine and were blamed for the deaths of hundreds of dogs and cats.
This uncovered a host of other cases that have left manufacturers who buy ingredients from the country under pressure to demonstrate they are sourcing responsibly. However, more importantly, the incidences have awakened regulatory bodies to gaps in their ability to regulate food safety.
According to FDA, regulatory programs vary from state to state and this can lead to inconsistencies in the oversight of food safety. As such, it says the adoption of voluntary standards will establish uniformity in the performance of state programs for regulating manufactured food, with the end goal of reducing foodborne illness hazards.
However, the federal agency, which regulates about 80 percent of the food supply, claims the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards are in fact the result of five years of cooperative effort by federal and state regulators.
These have defined best practices for state regulatory programs pertaining to foodborne illness. They include: a program's regulatory foundation, staff training, inspection, quality assurance, food defense preparedness and response, foodborne illness and incident investigation, enforcement, education and outreach, resource management, laboratory resources, and program assessment.
The standards have been approved by the US Office of Management and Budget and will be tested in New York, Oregon, and Missouri before September 30, 2007.
