U.S. Food and Agricultural Imports: Safeguards and Selected Issues

High-profile foodborne outbreaks and incidents involving imported foods have generated growing concerns about whether current federal programs sufficiently ensure the safety of these imports. Safety concerns have been associated with imported products from China, Mexico, and nations in Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and elsewhere. Imports of fish and seafood, fruits and vegetables, and pet foods are among those that have been associated with foodborne outbreaks and incidents. It is unclear whether imported foods pose a greater safety risk than domestically produced foods. Available data on foodborne illness outbreak investigations do not readily identify whether the food is domestic or foreign sourced. Number of Imported Food Shipments to the United States by Exporting Country/Region / Source: FDA, FDA Strategy for the Safety of Imported Food, February 2019. A steady increase in the volume of food imports—a result of globalization and consumer desire for a wider variety of foods year-round—complicates efforts to secure the safety of imported foods and strains already-challenged U.S. food inspection and oversight services. Overall, imported foods account for about one-fifth of all foods consumed in the United States, but an even larger share for some foods, such as fish and seafood, and fruit and vegetable products. Numerous federal, state, and local agencies share responsibilities for regulating the safety of the U.S. food supply. State and local authorities are thought to account for as much as 90% of all the food inspections in the United States through their routine sampling, inspection, and food-testing work. Federal responsibility for food safety rests primarily with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). FDA, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for ensuring the safety of all domestic and imported food products (except for most meats and poultry). FDA also has oversight of all seafood, fish, and shellfish products. More than 210,000 foreign food facilities are registered with FDA and are potentially subject to inspection. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) regulates most meat (including catfish) and poultry and some egg products. Roughly 1,300 eligible foreign establishments fall under FSIS jurisdiction. In FY2019, FDA inspected more than 1,700 foreign facilities and examined 17.7 million import lines (referring to separate product lines on an entry document) of FDA-regulated foods. For meat and poultry imports, FSIS audits the meat inspection systems of foreign countries that are approved to export meat and poultry products to the United States. Upon entry into the United States, FSIS reinspects the imported products. Changes enacted in the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA, P.L. 111-353) gave FDA new tools and authorities to ensure imported food meets the same safety standards as food produced in the United States. However, FDA continues to examine about 1% of the total number of food import lines each year—rates similar to that prior to FSMA. FSMA mandates requiring an increase in the number of facility inspections and an increase in the number of FDA inspectors have also not kept pace with targets set by Congress. As part of its ongoing oversight, Congress may wish to continue monitoring FDA’s progress in implementing FSMA and examine the agency’s ability to ensure the safety of imported foods. Some in Congress also continue to question the safety of imported foods under USDA’s jurisdiction and have scrutinized the agency’s process for determining the eligibility of foreign establishments to export meat and poultry products to the United States, particularly for products originating from certain countries. Congress may consider whether tighter requirements are necessary regarding such imports.