Consumer Demand Flavors Food Import Safety Issues

An ever-changing U.S. consumer who enjoys the convenience of ready-to-eat produce and seasonable fruits during the dead of winter has brought new challenges to food import safety, experts say.

With U.S. food imports set to top more than $2 trillion this year and expected to triple by 2015, a panel on food safety commissioned by President Bush met at Texas A&M University to discuss ways to strengthen the national and global import infrastructure.

Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, Food and Drug Administration commissioner, says the nation’s consumer is one who “expects to eat strawberries in February.”

That has led to more change and complexity among how food is processed and delivered into the U.S. “This nation and the people we serve, and their health that’s so critically important, is threatened - not that we haven’t been doing a good job,” he says. “In fact, we’ve been doing an incredibly good job. But the world is rapidly changing around us. Although we have been the gold standard (in food safety), we must respond and be prepared for new challenges that are emerging from radical changes.”

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples says “consumers’ tastes and preferences are changing. “They are demanding specialty products from around the world, seasonal products such as fruits and vegetables,” he says.

The working group, comprised of senior officials from 12 federal departments and agencies, is charged to report an action plan by mid-November. Additional information on the panel’s activities can be found at http://www.importsafety.gov.

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