APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum

August 3, 2009

The United States participated in the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF), hosted by co-chairs Australia and China, in Singapore on July 30, 2009, as part of the meetings of the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) being held July 30 – August 6, 2009.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Director, Dr. Stephen Sundlof headed the U.S. delegation to the FSCF. Dr. David Goldman, Assistant Administrator, Office of Public Health and Science, Food Safety Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, also participated. Dr. Sundlof, and Dr. Goldman along with senior food safety regulatory officials from the Asia-Pacific region, participated in meetings to discuss capacity building opportunities for APEC member economies in priority areas such as information sharing, food safety regulatory systems, and food inspection.

The participation of the United States in the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum and related events represents an investment in the food safety systems of our trading partners which we believe can help meet our goal of safe imported food products for the American public. Work within APEC to share best practices and coordinate technical training will increase member economies’ capacity to produce safe food and regulate food safely, as well as help ensure science- and risk-based approaches to food safety that can help facilitate trade in safe food. Increased trade flows of safe food will offer Americans a wider array of choices to meet their nutritional needs and offer U.S. food manufacturers a wider array of choices with respect to the inputs they use to produce their products.

During the Forum meeting, APEC member economies also examined the successes and challenges that stakeholders have experienced since the FSCF’s founding in April 2007. The FSCF Partnership Training Institute Network (PTIN), established in 2008 to leverage expertise and resources from the private sector and academia to fulfill FSCF capacity building priorities, was featured in presentations by Dr. Robert Brackett of the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Dr. Jianghong Meng of the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, among others. Following the FSCF, on August 1st and 2nd, the PTIN conducted a workshop on food safety risk analysis to discuss best practices of APEC member economies.

Recent statements by President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group (FSWG) have highlighted the need to work with other countries to improve their food safety regulatory systems and help prevent foodborne illness in the global food supply. U.S. participation in the FSCF helps to realize the FSWG goal of effective collaboration with our trading partners to improve food safety. These activities also continue the participation and outreach on infrastructure building efforts within APEC as requested by the FSWG.

FDA collaborated with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Commerce in preparation for the FSCF.