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DeLauro Slams FDA for Failure to Effectively Implement the Food and Safety Modernization Act

October 2, 2017

WASHINGTON, DC (October 2, 2017) - Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) released the following statement in response to the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report detailing the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) failure to effectively implement the Food and Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

"Americans should be able to trust the food they buy, eat, and serve to their families. That is the core of the FDA's mission: to protect our citizens from unsafe food and drugs. Yet as the GAO report released today points out, the FDA is failing to meet that standard."

"According to this report, over 90 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported, yet only 2 percent of foreign seafood processors were inspected by the FDA. The remaining 98 percent of uninspected seafood processors represent an unacceptable, gaping hole in our food safety system. Worse than that, only 0.1 percent of the seafood imported from 2012 to 2015 was inspected for unsafe drug residue that is linked to cancer and allergic reactions.

"The FDA's failure to keep Americans' food safe is completely inexcusable. The FDA is not keeping up with the Food and Safety Modernization Act guidelines that are necessary to protect Americans from eating unsafe food. Additionally, the FDA must hold nations that ship seafood to the United States accountable to uphold our food safety testing standards. Allowing unsafe food to enter the United States food supply should never be an option, and the FDA needs to take immediate action to fix this problem."