US food and drug agency opens office in Beijing
To better guarantee the safety of increasing Chinese food imports, the US Food and Drug Administration opened its first overseas office in Beijing on November 19.
“A permanent FDA presence in China will help us address the challenges presented by globalization,” FDA commissioner Andrew Von Eschebath said at the opening ceremony. They want to cooperate with the Chinese government and manufacturers to make all the FDA standards are met before the food shipment to the United States.
Two more offices will be opened in China, one in Shanghai and the other in Shenzhen. According to Christopher director, eight staff will be stationed in China. They will include inspectors and senior technical experts on regulation, policy, food, medicines and medical devices. They will offer their Chinese counterparts their experience and expertise.
They are responsible for inspecting local facilities, providing guidance on US quality standards, and training local experts to execute inspections on behalf of the FDA.
The opening of the FDA office “provide a very clear signal to the whole world”, said Shao Mingli, deputy health minister and head of China’s State Food and Drug Administration. He noted that their first priority and top responsibility is to protect public health and life. The direct reason for the opening of FDA China is the contamination scandal that caused babies die and 53,000 fall ill this year.
Last week, the FDA issued an “important alert” which said by Eschenbath is a regular practice within the FDA’s regulatory framework, may contain “dairy ingredients”. They urge the importers to ensure the products to be free of such ingredients or melamine, or else they will deny the product entry.
Eschenbath noted that the US would support China to resolve the problem. According to David Achenson, FDA associate commissioner for foods, there is no limit for the lifting of the alert; it depends on the speed of resolving the problem. He still mentioned the United States will continue to import food from China and the amount is going to increase.
The United States imported about $320 billion in products last year, and around $4.4 billion comprised food. According to the data from the US Census Bureau, nearly half of it was seafood. Also, Chen Zhu, Health Minister said on Tuesday that China will send food and quality control officials to the US in the future.
Experts welcome the potential partnership. Setting up offices in both countries will help promote mutual understanding and share more facility information, said Chen Junshi, a senior researcher with the Chinese National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety.
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