FDA reports on food supply safety

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a report on the year-long implementation of its Food Protection Plan to protect domestic and imported foods.

The plan, officials said, outlines strategies for prevention, intervention and response to food safety issues by encouraging the building of safety into every step of the food supply chain.

"Science and 21st century technologies help drive the FDA's efforts to transform our food safety efforts from the Food Protection Plan into a reality," said FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach. "Every day, the FDA is working with foreign countries, state and local governments, regulated industry and consumer groups to ensure the safety of the food supply."

Among other things, the FDA said it's establishing offices in five regions that export food and other FDA-regulated products to the United States: China, India, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The federal agency said it has also approved the use of irradiation of iceberg lettuce and spinach to control pathogens, developed methods to detect melamine and cyanuric acid in feed and feed ingredients and is now using genetic analysis to identify hundreds of Salmonella strains from seafood imports.

The report is available at www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/progressreport1108.html.