12.01.07
In November, Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) secretary Mike Leavitt introduced an FDA-developed initiative to bolster efforts to better protect the nation’s food supply. The Food Protection Plan proposes the use of science and a risk-based approach to ensure the safety of domestic and imported foods eaten by American consumers. “America’s food supply is among the safest in the world, and we enjoy unprecedented choice and convenience in filling the cupboard. Yet, we face new challenges to meet both the changing demands of a global economy and consumers’ expectations,” secretary Leavitt said. “This Food Protection Plan will implement a strategy of prevention, intervention and response to build safety into every step of the food supply chain.”
The Food Protection Plan, which focuses on both domestic and imported food, complements the Import Safety Action Plan delivered by secretary Leavitt to President Bush in early November, which offered recommendations on how the U.S. can improve the safety of all imported products. This year, $2 trillion worth of goods will be imported into the U.S., and experts predict that amount will triple by 2015. The Import Safety Action Plan lays out a roadmap with short- and long-term recommendations to enhance product safety at every step of the import lifecycle. Taken together, the two plans will improve efforts by the public and private sector to enhance the safety of a wide array of products used by American consumers.
The Food Protection Plan’s three core elements—prevention, intervention and response—incorporate four cross-cutting principles for comprehensive food protection along the entire production chain:
• Focus on risks over a product’s lifecycle from production to consumption;
• Target resources to achieve greatest risk reduction;
• Use interventions that address both food safety (unintentional contamination) and food defense (deliberate contamination); and
• Use science and employ modern technology, including enhanced information technology systems.
The Food Protection Plan, which focuses on both domestic and imported food, complements the Import Safety Action Plan delivered by secretary Leavitt to President Bush in early November, which offered recommendations on how the U.S. can improve the safety of all imported products. This year, $2 trillion worth of goods will be imported into the U.S., and experts predict that amount will triple by 2015. The Import Safety Action Plan lays out a roadmap with short- and long-term recommendations to enhance product safety at every step of the import lifecycle. Taken together, the two plans will improve efforts by the public and private sector to enhance the safety of a wide array of products used by American consumers.
The Food Protection Plan’s three core elements—prevention, intervention and response—incorporate four cross-cutting principles for comprehensive food protection along the entire production chain:
• Focus on risks over a product’s lifecycle from production to consumption;
• Target resources to achieve greatest risk reduction;
• Use interventions that address both food safety (unintentional contamination) and food defense (deliberate contamination); and
• Use science and employ modern technology, including enhanced information technology systems.