FDA is touting an agreement with European authorities to assess food safety risks as crucial to public health protection. Meanwhile, key Democrats on Capitol Hill are asking federal agencies to "make it a top priority to develop a comprehensive, legally binding" memorandum of understanding on food safety with China.

While the agreement between FDA and the European Food Safety Authority is the first formal international cooperation agreement EFSA has entered and the first formal step in cooperation between the two agencies, it is also the latest indication of rapidly increasing attention to vulnerabilities in the global supply chain.

"Food safety knows no national boundaries and the food chain is today truly a global one. We need to work with the best scientific minds from across the world and extend scientific co-operation to assess food safety risks and protect consumers even more," EFSA Executive Director Catherine Geslain-Laneelle says in a release.

FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach says the agreement enables "exchanges that will be focused on ensuring the safety and wholesomeness of food, a major area of responsibility of our agency."

The U.S. and European agencies said the agreement is designed to facilitate sharing confidential scientific and other information, such as methodologies to ensure that food is safe.

The agencies say they have already conducted informal cooperation and dialogue, but the formal agreement ensures appropriate protection of confidential information under the applicable legal frameworks in both the United States and the European Union.

Durbin, DeLauro Press Agencies On China

In a June 28 letter to the Agriculture Department, the Health and Human Services Department and FDA, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., say FDA's same-day announcement of a ban on imports of five species of fish from China compounds the urgency to establish a food safety MOU with the country.

Durbin is assistant majority leader in the Senate and DeLauro is chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies.

FDA's ban on some farm-raised Chinese seafood products follows its April 27 order for vegetable protein products from China to be detained without physical examination due to the presence of melamine and melamine analogs in pet food ingredients labeled as wheat gluten and rice protein (¹ Also see "Costs Mount For Firms As Amino Acids, Vegetable Proteins Sit On Docks" - Pink Sheet, 14 May, 2007.).

FDA also published a guidance May 2 advising pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities and compounding pharmacists to include tests for diethylene glycol content in the identity testing of all lots of glycerin they receive (² Also see "FDA Global Supply Chain Concerns Prompt Glycerin DEG Testing Guidance" - Pink Sheet, 7 May, 2007., p. 15).

The agency said consistent DEG testing is needed because deaths from DEG poisoning have been reported as recently as October 2006 in Panama.

Additionally, the agency warned consumers on June 1 not to use toothpaste labeled as made in China a day after it issued an import alert to prevent toothpaste containing DEG from entering the country (³ 'The Tan Sheet' June 4, 2007, In Brief).

Like firms in other industries, dietary supplement manufacturers are affected by bans or limits on imports of Chinese food ingredients because they use the substances in many of their products.

However, dietary supplement manufacturing experts have told "The Tan Sheet" they expect China's food safety problems to motivate the country to become a world leader in the field (⁴ Also see "A “Waking Giant” In Food Safety? Experts Discuss China’s Future Of Reform" - Pink Sheet, 4 June, 2007., p. 12).

On May 24, China's State Food and Drug Administration announced the "2007 National Plan of Special Rectification of Food Safety" to improve the safety of food eaten there or exported from the country.

Bans On Chinese Imports Piling Up

The latest ban "is yet another event in an unfortunate series of disturbing food safety problems originating in China," Durbin and DeLauro say in their letter.

"The attention brought to this issue due to the pet food recall has revealed multiple instances of unscrupulous food companies exporting flawed, dangerous products to the United States. We are concerned that the current regulatory framework and resource base might not be prepared to manage these problems," the lawmakers say.

Durbin and DeLauro note HHS's May 25 announcement that department representatives "requested significant progress on the issue of food safety in China" during a recent U.S.-China economic meeting.

However, they say a comprehensive and binding food safety MOU is needed.

They also point out they "specifically requested" FDA and the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine work on a food safety MOU during a May 9, 2007 meeting with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong and von Eschenbach.

In a release, they note USDA has a memorandum of cooperation with AQSIQ, but it "does not have the weight of a legally binding document."

The United States imports about $2.1 billion of agricultural products from China annually, they say.

FDA's two current MOUs with AQSIQ cover standards for ceramic ware imported from China, according to the letter.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, also is scrutinizing federal agencies' oversight of the inspection of imported food products and how effectively national food safety standards are implemented.

Preliminary results are expected to be available by the end of this year from audits of those capabilities Harkin has requested from the Office of Inspector General at both HHS and USDA (⁵ Also see "Food Safety System Audit Coming From HHS, USDA – Sen. Harkin’s Office" - Pink Sheet, 28 May, 2007., p. 12.)

The Federal Trade Commission in June announced a non-binding MOU with its Chinese counterpart to promote consumer protection cooperation.

The pact, which covers all products including drugs and dietary supplements, followed work by FTC and China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce on consumer protection issues (⁶ 'The Tan Sheet' June 18, 2007, In Brief).

- Malcolm Spicer (m.spicer@elsevier.com)

Congress Pushes Food Safety Pact With China As FDA Lauds European Deal

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