A Summary of the United States Food and Drug Administrations’ Food Safety Program for Imported Seafood; One Country’s Approach

Abstract

Abstract:It is well known that the vast majority of seafood is captured or farmed in emerging countries and exported to developed countries. This has resulted in seafood being the number one traded food commodity in the world. Food safety is essential to this trade. Exporting countries should understand the regulatory food safety programs of the countries they ship to in order to comply with their applicable laws and regulations to avoid violations and disruptions in trade. The United States (U.S.) imports more seafood than any individual country in the world but the European Union (E.U.) countries, as a block, import significantly more. Each importing country has its own programs and systems in place to ensure the safety of imported seafood. However, most countries that export seafood have regulatory programs in place that comply with the import requirements of the E.U. The purpose of this paper is to describe the United States Food and Drug Administration's (USFDA) imported seafood safety program. The primary audience for the information is foreign government regulators, seafood exporters, and U.S. importers. It can also give consumers confidence that f U.S. seafood is safe no matter which country it originates from.

Institutional challenges and constraints for Ghana in exporting fishery products to the European Union

“…However, as fish legality in the EU context is a full subject and already addressed both from a broad perspective (6,7,8,9) and in the more geographically focused setting of West Africa and Ghana, (10,11,12,13,14,15) this paper will concentrate on food safety in fisheries with regard to institutional challenges in Africa, which is an issue left behind in terms of research coverage. (16,17,18) As an EU partner, along with other agricultural export products also submitted to EU requirements, Ghana derives the maximum benefits from its fish and fishery export products. In particular, Ghana, one of the major tuna exporters to the EU, faces institutional constraints in meeting EU requirements.…”

Seafood Processing and Safety

“…Brett Koonse gives an overview on US FDA regulatory HACCP requirements for imported seafood products. Koonse points out that exporting countries and foreign companies must understand the food regulatory requirements of the importing country [4]. Chengchu Liu et al .…”