Foreign Food Inspection Program

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is increasing the number of inspections of foreign food processing facilities that export to the United States based on recommendations made by the President’s Food Safety Working Group for a new public health-focused approach to food safety and an increase in funding authority by the U.S. Congress to increase surveillance of imported food products. FDA is also taking similar efforts with regard to domestic food to ensure that the U.S. food supply is safe.  Foreign inspections are designed to identify potential food safety problems before products arrive in the United States, to determine compliance status of firms to FDA’s requirements, and food safety standards, to help the agency make admissibility decisions when food products are offered for importation into the United States, and to help ensure that food products under FDA’s jurisdiction meet U.S. requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.