FDA Requires New Safety Guidelines for Imported Foods

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will now be requiring new safety guidelines for imported foods.

According to the administration, one-sixth of America's food is imported, including 50 percent of fresh fruit and 20 percent of fresh vegetables. However, the FDA only inspects 2 percent of imports.

According to Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine stated, via USA Today, that "produce comes to our border without us having any enforceable standards in place for the conditions under which the produce was grown or for water quality and employee hygiene. And there's no way for us to hold the importer accountable for the safety of the product they're bringing in."

According to various reports, once the rules are in effect, this will require that all imported foods are safely produced and packaged.

"We don't live in local land anymore," said Dr. David Acheson, a former F.D.A. official who is currently with Leavitt Partners, a food safety and health care consulting firm in Washington, via the New York Times. "Though many people want to buy local, the reality is most Americans are buying things in big stores and relying on imported products."

According to Erik Olson, a researcher at the Pew Charitable Trusts, who was also an advocate for the passage of the law, believes this could be a successful start to preventing contamination in imported food products.

He also believes, according to the New York Times, that 8 of the 19 multistate food outbreaks can be linked to the F.D.A. regulated products that have occurred since January 2011 bill, and more recently when pomegranate seeds from Turkey sickened more than 140 individuals across the country with hepatitis A.