Industry News

House Committee Issues Discussion Draft on Proposed Import Food Safety Legislation
April 29, 2008

On April 28, 2008, The House Committee on Energy and Commerce issued a legislative proposal in the form of a “Discussion Draft” entitled the “Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2008.”

Part of this draft includes provisions:

• Requiring all facilities operating within the U.S. or exporting food or cosmetics to the U.S. to register with FDA annually.
• Allowing foreign and domestic food facilities to voluntarily seek certification from FDA-accredited certifying agents, which could include foreign governments.   Certification would indicate that all applicable U.S. food safety requirements are being met
• Requiring all processed food labels to indicate the country in which final processing occurred, require food manufacturers to identify the country of origin on their Web sites for all ingredients, and require country-of-origin labeling for all produce.
• Requiring drug labels to identify the source of the active pharmaceutical ingredient and its place of manufacture
• Creating unique identification numbers for all drug, device, food, and cosmetic facilities and importers.

In related news, Representatives Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced the “Keeping America’s Food Safe Act of 2008.”  More information on this act can be found here.