US FDA hopes for productive conversations on food safety law

The US Food and Drug Administration officials are visiting India to discuss the new law on food safety with the Indian government and industry stakeholders.
The US food and drug regulator is conducting a series of trips abroad including India to update government and industry stakeholders on the bipartisan and landmark FDA Food Safety Modernisation Act, (FSMA), its most sweeping reform to food safety system in 70 years.
"India is of particular importance to the FDA because it is the seventh largest supplier of food to the US. FDA values its partnership with India as US - India continue to advance their ability to prevent food-borne illnesses and enhance the safety of the food supply in both countries," FDA Deputy Commissioner Howard Sklamberg told reporters here.

"We have come here to speak with Indian government regulators and industry stakeholders about the FSMA. This follows a visit eleven months ago, when we signed a MoU with the Centre in order to develop opportunities for cooperative engagement in regulatory and technical matters related to food products, Sklamberg said.
India exports USD 4 billion worth agri, spices and sea food exports to US every year.
"Our office (in India)(is) engaged in technical workshops with Indian regulators, where we engaged in training on food and drug related issues and inspections techniques, good manufacturing practises and the detection of data integrity issues," he added.

FNMA mandates a food safety system that is preventive rather than reactive, and in which foreign food producers are held to the same safety standards as our domestic farmers and food companies.

FSMA is our food safety system in 70 years and we are committed to working with our international partners, as well as consumers and industry, to implement the law in a timely and efficient manner, he added.
Under FSMA's new import safety system, importers in the US are made accountable to US FDA for verifying that their foreign suppliers are using methods to prevent food safety problems that provide the same level of public health protection as those used by their US counterparts.

Under FSMA, this new accountability for importers will be backed up by more overseas inspections by FDA and crucial for the purposes of this trip to India, more active partnership with our foreign government counterparts and with industry stakeholders, he said.