The Government Accountability Office has issued a report recommending that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seek congressional authority to assess penalties on food importers that violate FDA laws, as well as explore ways to identify importers with a unique identifier.

"If that sounds familiar," says Dan Vaché, vice president of supply chain management for United Fresh, "it is because the GAO recommendation is very similar to the first milestone of the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI): Assigning each company a unique prefix. In the event of a recall, this step would give FDA the ability to know instantly from which importer the tainted product came."

According to GAO, imported food makes up a substantial and growing portion of the U.S. food supply. To ensure imported food safety, federal agencies must focus their resources on high risk foods and coordinate efforts. Given these facts, GAO was charged with evaluating how three federal agencies: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service and FDA work together to address challenges and oversee the safety of imported food. 

While the three agencies have worked to tackle challenges pertaining to the safety of imported foods, gaps in enforcement, collaboration and communication still serve to undermine progress, says the GAO report. "This lack of communication may potentially increase the risk that unsafe food could enter U.S. commerce without FDA review ...".

For more on the GAO report, click here, and for more on United’s work on traceability, please visit www.producetraceability.org.