**GAO-10-699T**                      Published: May 06, 2010. Publicly Released: May 06, 2010.                  

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## Highlights

Food imported from around the world constitutes a substantial and increasing percentage of the U.S. food supply. Ensuring the safety of imported food challenges the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to better target its resources on the foods posing the greatest risks to public health and to coordinate efforts with the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) so that unsafe food does not enter U.S. commerce. This testimony focuses on (1) FDA's overseas inspections, (2) identified gaps in agencies' enforcement efforts to ensure the safety of imported food, and (3) statutory authorities that GAO has identified that could help FDA's oversight of food safety. This testimony is principally based on GAO's September 2009 report, Food Safety: Agencies Need to Address Gaps in Enforcement and Collaboration to Enhance Safety of Imported Food (GAO-09-873) and has been updated with information from FDA.

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## Topics

Agriculture and Food

Consumer protectionContaminated foodsFood and drug legislationFood facilitiesFood inspectionFood safetyFood supplyForeign governmentsForeign trade agreementsForeign trade policiesImport regulationImportingInformation disclosureInternational tradeInternational trade regulationMeat inspectionProduct evaluationProduct safetyRegulatory agenciesRisk management