Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Akron police investigate teen mob attack on family
Man found hanging at playground in Stow
Family is proud of late son's gift
Man shot in back near Akron park
Varejao's $50 million deal isn't really $50 million
Robbery suspect's body left at Akron hospital
Woman, 75, charged with beating fawn to death
Man, 29, killed in New Franklin crash
Blogs:
Pets:
Sly children fool exercise study by using dogs
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Dwayne Wade says no to Cleveland
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Kent State
Browns Bulletin:
Quick thought on Browns rookies
Tribe Matters:
Now is no time to quit
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Andy’s Signed According to ESPN
All Da King's Men:
Baby Got Barack !
Blog of Mass Destruction:
As California Goes?
Akron Law Café:
Why do public officials violate Ohio Ethics Laws?
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ontko selects Wisconsin
See Jane Style:
Oh Baby!
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Closings….Not the Good Kind!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Margy inquires-when is a Taste of Hudson?
Sound Check:
LeVert II live performance Saturday night — "Dedication" album due July 13,
HRLite House:
DDI One of Best Places to Work
Akron Gamer:
Video game sales drop in May
Foreign station announcement made in Beijing following health concerns over Chinese exports
By Craig Simons
Cox News Service
Published on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
BEIJING: U.S. officials launched a new strategy Tuesday to improve the safety of the vast range of food and other products imported from China and other countries.
Concerns over Chinese exports — tainted food and goods recalled for safety reasons — prompted Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to make the announcement in Beijing, where the Food and Drug Administration is opening its first office outside the United States.
Since March 2007, safety inspectors have recalled a stream of imported goods from China, including poisonous pet food, toothpaste containing a dangerous chemical, toys covered with lead paint and fish contaminated with unapproved drugs.
''In the past, we have been able to catch products coming through our borders and find those that are unsafe or do not meet our quality standards,'' Leavitt said during a news conference with China's health minister. ''However, the volume of the goods has become so robust that it requires a change in our strategy.''
The FDA's Beijing office will be the first of three stations in China. Other offices will open in in India and Latin America.
Offices in the rest of the world ''will come very rapidly,'' said FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, who was also in Beijing.
The United States imported almost $2 trillion of goods last year from more than 825,000 importers, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
China is likely to remain a key focus for the FDA. Last Thursday, U.S. food safety inspectors announced that Chinese products containing milk or milk-derived ingredients would be detained until tests can prove they do not contain melamine, a toxic chemical. In recent months, melamine has been found in a wide range of infant formulas in China that have sickened tens of thousands of children and killed at least four.
The agency's foreign stations will be tasked primarily with helping foreign governments strengthen their regulatory systems and with increasing the number of inspections outside the United States. All imports to the United States will have to be certified by an approved independent company or government bureau or will be subjected to a higher level of FDA scrutiny, the officials said.
The rapid growth of Chinese exports to the United States highlights the difficulty of keeping dangerous goods off American shelves. Between January and August, the United States imported $217 billion in goods from China, an increase of $12 billion from the same period in 2007, according to U.S. government data.
China's food exports to the United States have grown particularly rapidly. China is now the largest exporter of seafood to the United States and exports of other food products, including fruit, fruit juice and processed confectionery items, have also grown.
Leavitt said the enormous volume of U.S. imports means ''that you cannot inspect everything,'' he said. ''Therefore we have to change our strategy from one of central inspection at the border.
''We have to build quality into every product at every step of the process,'' he added.
BEIJING: U.S. officials launched a new strategy Tuesday to improve the safety of the vast range of food and other products imported from China and other countries.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 12:36 PM, 11/19/2008
So why is our government spending all this money so private business can import these products? It should be private business who is proving to the goverment that their imported products are safe.
Posted 09:43 AM, 11/20/2008
Bob, because they can't be trusted to do the right thing!
