From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: Safety of Imported Food

Description: Audio interview by GAO staff with Alfredo Gomez, Director,
Natural Resources and Environment

Related GAO Work: GAO-15-183: Food Safety: Additional Actions Needed to
Help FDA’s Foreign Offices Ensure Safety of Imported Food

Released: February 2015


[ Background Music ]

[ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and
information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's
February 2015. The Food and Drug Administration's Foreign Offices
prevent unsafe products from entering the U.S. food supply. Greater
volumes of imported food bring increased workloads and other challenges.
A team led by Alfredo Gomez, a director in GAO's Natural Resources and
Environment team, recently reviewed FDA's foreign offices and their
operations. GAO's Jacques Arsenault sat down with Alfredo to talk about
what they found.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] How much of the U.S. food supply comes from other
countries?

[ Alfredo Gomez: ] About one-sixth or 16 percent of our food supply
comes from other countries. However, some foods are more likely to be
imported. For example, over 90 percent of our seafood comes from other
countries such as canned tuna fish, raw sushi, breaded tilapia filets.
Also, about 50 percent of our fresh fruits come from other countries.
It's also important to note that while 16 percent of our food comes from
other countries, according to FDA, food imports are increasing 10
percent every year for the last decade. And this is an increase that is
likely to continue.

 [ Jacques Arsenault: ] So then what do FDA's foreign offices do to help
ensure that that food is safe?

 [ Alfredo Gomez: ] So, FDA foreign offices, of which there are seven
around the world, and these are in places like China, India. There are
several locations, for example, in Latin America. They are the face and
the voice of FDA overseas. Our report lists a number activities that
these foreign offices conduct, such as foreign inspections of
facilities. They gather and assess in country information that they
provide then to headquarters here in the U.S. And they also provide
information to foreign governments and industry on FDA's policies, laws,
and regulations. So, FDA's foreign offices are the eyes and ears for
reporting back on the conditions that may cause safety problems in these
countries.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] Can you talk a little bit about you found? Are
the foreign offices effective in ensuring food safety?

[ Alfredo Gomez: ] So, the short answer is we don't really know the
extent to which the foreign offices are contributing to the safety of
imported food. The foreign offices have cited a variety of contributions
to improving the safety of imported food. For example, the India office
has conducted inspections of tuna processing facilities. These had been
identified as a source of a salmonella outbreak. So, then FDA issued an
import alert for tuna processed products. However, the extent that these
contributions are improving the safety of imported food overall is
unknown--because FDA's performance measures have not fully captured
these contributions. For example, the foreign offices have set
inspection targets. They also have set targets for doing a certain
number of collaborative efforts with foreign governments. And while
these targets are fine, they are not measuring whether the foreign
offices are helping to improve FDA's ability to ensure the safety of
imported food. Another serious challenge to the foreign office's
effectiveness is a large number of vacant positions, especially in
China.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] So then, what recommendations is GAO making to
FDA to improve the foreign office's effectiveness?

[ Alfredo Gomez: ] In this report, we’re making one recommendation that
is related to foreign inspections. In a report that we did in 2010 on
the same topic, we made two key recommendations to FDA. And those
recommendations were that FDA needed to develop performance metrics and
that it also needs to develop a workforce plan to allow it to staff
their foreign offices. Now, these recommendations are still valid
because FDA has not implemented these recommendations yet. With respect
to the current report and our recommendation on foreign inspections, FDA
is required to conduct a certain number of foreign inspections, and
those inspections grow each year. What’s happened is that FDA has not
been able to keep pace with those targets. So, we're recommending that
FDA complete an analysis to determine how many foreign inspections it
needs to do to ensure that our imported food is safe.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] And finally, for consumers, what would you say is
the bottom line of this report?

[ Alfredo Gomez: ] So, this report is about making consumers more aware
of how FDA uses its foreign offices to ensure the safety of food. And
also the challenges that FDA faces in making sure that it has the right
people in the right place and performing the right activities.

[ Background Music ]

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next episode of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the congressional
watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office.