On March 21, the FDA released Activities for the Safety of Imported Seafood, a report which details the approach the Agency’s is taking to ensure that imported seafood consumed in the U.S. meets food safety requirements and the standards of domestically produced seafood. For background on the FDA’s “Strategy for the Safety of Imported Food,” see our February 2019 blog and September 2022 blog regarding FDA’s report for imported produce. 

The reports details how established FDA regulation and innovative programs and technology are employed to support each of the four goals that were established in the 2019 strategy document as they relate to imported seafood safety:

• Goal 1 – Food Offered for Import Meets U.S. Food Safety Requirements

  • FDA objectives include relying on international inspections, using verified foreign suppliers, auditing such as those conducted under FDA’s Accredited Third-Party Certification Program or other programs aligned with FDA produce safety requirements, incentivizing importers to use verified suppliers through the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP), leveraging oversight efforts of regulatory counterparts with strong food safety systems, and increasing awareness and training of seafood safety requirements.

• Goal 2 – FDA Border Surveillance Prevents Entry of Unsafe Foods

  • FDA objectives include enhancing and refining FDA’s import screening and entry review process, optimizing use of sampling of imported seafood, utilizing import alerts and import certifications, improving testing methods and tools to determine admissibility of seafood offered for import, and maximizing surveillance from state and other partnerships.

• Goal 3 – Rapid and Effective Response to Unsafe Imported Food

  • FDA objectives include maximizing the effectiveness of Agency responses to events involving imported seafood, such as recalls.

• Goal 4 – Effective and Efficient Food Import Program

  • FDA objectives include a better understanding of the global inventory of seafood facilities and farms and conduction of performance assessments of the effectiveness of import activities.

Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor and report on any developments that impact seafood safety requirements.