A Heaping Helping of Food Security

April 1, 2003; Page E01
By Cindy Skrzycki

The food industry's plate will be very full when the Food and Drug Administration completes four new security measures that will, for the first time, allow the federal government to keep tabs on virtually every morsel of food that is produced or imported.

The two rules proposed so far require registering almost all articles of food made domestically or imported, and giving FDA prior notice of imports -- by noon the day before shipments are scheduled to arrive. Two yet to come will deal with detention procedures for suspect shipments and recordkeeping requirements for companies.

The prospect of complying has everyone in the food industry, from companies that bottle water to grain handlers, worried that the demands and complexity of the rules will overwhelm the industry and the FDA.

"We strongly support a rigorous food security system to protect the nation's food supply, and we supported the Bioterrorism Act passed last year. Our desire is to enhance our nation's food security without unnecessarily burdening either the food industry or FDA. We don't think that FDA is there yet," said Richard N. Jarman, vice president of regulatory affairs for the National Food Processors Association, which represents the makers of processed and packaged foods.

The FDA proposals aren't the only new requirements that importers and food producers will have to heed.

Customs has under consideration several "prior notice" proposals that will require shippers to alert the agency about goods coming into the country. And the Agriculture Department has deployed more inspectors to keep an eye on meat and poultry and has issued lengthy guidance to producers, processors and food providers on how to secure their facilities against intentional contamination.

As the lead agency on the Bioterrorism Act, the FDA's responsibilities for monitoring the domestic and imported food supply have expanded considerably. The agency acknowledges it has limited resources to implement the rules, so it plans to listen to industry's ideas. "My goal here, as an economist by training and as a physician, is to make these regulations work as efficiently as possible. We have goals that we have to meet, but if can do it at lower cost or more efficiently, it will reduce adverse effects," FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan said in an interview. "There is a significant opportunity for them to tell us what they think and how to do things better."

With the Iraqi war underway and fears about terrorism on the minds of many people, it's tough for industry groups to be too negative. Nevertheless, the Food Processors and other companies told the FDA in comments that they fear the rules are too complex, will cause backups at the border, will confound filers and will duplicate filings made with other agencies.

The idea behind creating a national registry of companies involved in manufacturing, processing, packing or holding food is that the FDA "can contact them if there is a terrorist threat on their product," said McClellan.

The registration requirement is expected to cost $336 million in the first year, the FDA said. The rule affects about 400,000 facilities, which will be asked to file reams of electronic information on typical foodstuffs, animal feed products, dietary supplements, beverages, infant formula, alcoholic beverages and food additives.

There are some exemptions: Farms, restaurants, food banks and retail facilities don't have to register. A retail facility includes vending machines as well as grocery stores. But Costco would not be a retail facility because it sells to wholesalers.

As the food industry reads the proposal, it is so sweeping that moms who store Girl Scout cookies in their living rooms (they would be a handler) and lobstermen who bring in the catch of the day might have to file with the FDA .

The prior-notice proposal, estimated to cost $84 million in the first year, is designed to give the agency a chance to decide if shipments from 77,427 importers should be inspected. The FDA expects it will get 20,000 import notices daily. Currently, the U.S. imports some $13.6 billion annually in products from Canada and Mexico alone.

The agency just added 300 new inspectors to its current force of 574 .

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