How Safe Are Our Food Imports?

The Pew Health Group and the Center for Science in the Public Interest address the safety of imported seafood and raw produce.

FDA Responsibilities and Resources

Charged with responsibility for keeping 80% of the nation's food supply (including fresh produce) safe, the FDA receives less than 25% of federal dollars spent on food safety activities.

Foodborne Pathogens Associated with Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

There are a number of foodborne microbial pathogens associated with the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables that can cause illness or death among consumers who eat contaminated produce.

This document summarizes the major foodborne microbial pathogens that may be found in fresh produce, including Cyclospora cayetanensis, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Hepatitis A, Listeria monocytogenes, Norovirus, Salmonella spp., and Shigella spp.

FDA Actions Regarding Produce Safety

For more than a decade, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recognized the challenge of making fresh produce safer. However, it has relied on voluntary guidelines. This document summarizes a decade of government initiatives that fall short of the mandatory and enforceable federal safety standards needed for domestic and imported fresh fruits and vegetables.

Legal and Regulatory Frameworks Governing the Growing, Packing and Handling of Fresh Produce in Countries Exporting to the U.S.

A number of major countries exporting fresh vegetables and fruit into the United States have modernized food-safety laws and regulations over the past two decades to emphasize preventive measures. The Produce Safety Project (PSP), supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, advocates for improvements in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) oversight of domestic and imported produce through the adoption of mandatory, enforceable safety standards. To provide policymakers with information on the legal and regulatory frameworks governing the growing, packing and handling of fresh produce in countries exporting to the U.S., PSP commissioned a review of those systems in fi ve of the U.S.’s largest trading partners - Canada, Chile, China, Mexico, and Peru.

Building the Science Foundation of a Modern Food Safety System

During the past 20 years, those working to prevent foodborne illnesses in the United States–whether in government, industry, academia, or the consumer advocacy community–have made major progress in understanding food safety as a farm-to-fork challenge that necessitates science-based efforts throughout the system. Numerous reports have called for a more risk-informed and data-driven approach to U.S. food safety, and legislation currently being considered in Congress includes provisions to strengthen the scientific basis of the nation’s food safety system.

State Surveillance of Foodborne Illness

In an effort to determine states’ capacity to track produce-related cases of foodborne illness and gain a better understanding of how states conduct investigations of outbreaks, the Produce Safety Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University, commissioned Safe Tables Our Priority (S.T.O.P.) to conduct a survey of state health departments. The survey was sent to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and 39 responded. The survey requested 2007 data on the types of questionnaires administered by state health departments to foodborne-illness victims, the time frame in which they were completed, the types of questions asked, and how states collected and stored the resulting data. These elements are key in the effective identification of the source of a foodborne illness.

Comparison of GAPs for Fresh Produce

In the absence of mandatory federal regulations, a number of organizations and one state have stepped into the regulatory void and adopted their own standards for the growing and harvesting of fresh produce (fruits and vegetables intended to be consumed raw) aimed at minimizing microbial contamination.