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Leveraging and Outreach Activities continued 2001

Chapter 8
Last Update: August 07, 2003

Foreign Countries

Canada

New York District – On March 1, 2001, the FDA's New York District Office Upstate IOB was invited by the Canadian Consulate, Buffalo, New York to make a presentation on import matters at the Canadian/International Food & Beverage Show on February 20, 2001, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. FDA shared the podium with U.S. Customs officials and presented information regarding FDA's laws, regulations, policies and procedures associated with the importation of food products into the United States. The audience consisted of representatives from a variety of food manufacturing facilities who wish to export to the U.S.A. foods for institutional use. Information booklets were provided, including information on the import process and FDA's Website.

New York District –On July 6, 2001, the FDA's New York District Import Operations Branch Upstate made a presentation at the Export USA Mission offered by the Canadian Consulate in New York City. Downstate IOB staff also attended and assisted in providing information regarding FDA laws and regulations associated with importing products into the USA. U.S. Customs was also in attendance. Approximately fifteen Canadian companies, which hope to export to the USA, were represented. These companies were participating in a food show in New York but expect to make commercial entries through upstate New York ports. The participants were encouraged to attend future training programs offered through the Consulate, which include more formal presentations by FDA regarding import requirements and food labeling.

Pacific Regional Laboratory research microbiologists, the PAR shellfish specialist and microbiologists from Office of Seafood met with Washington State Department of Health (WSDH) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) personnel regarding Vibrio parahaemolyticus issues in the Pacific Northwest. Shellfish monitoring plans were discussed and laboratory training in non-isotopic probe techniques to identify and enumerate V. parahaemolyticus was conducted. Planning and coordination for joint SPRC/Office of Seafood, GCSL, research to study tdh+ V. parahaemolyticus levels during summer months in Puget Sound growing waters was also accomplished.

New York District –The FDA's New York District Office Import Operations Branch/Upstate met with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on May 24, 2001, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Topic discussed included a number of issues relating to the continued cooperation between the two agencies. Among the issues discussed was the timely notification of rejected and re-exported product, follow-up investigations at the shipper/consignee, the uniformity of the analytical testing between the two agencies, and demonstrations of both the CFIA and FDA websites. Also discussed was CFIA's Quality Management program for their domestic processors, and the list of Canadian approved exporters used for meeting Import Seafood HACCP requirements. The meeting concluded with a tour of CFIA's laboratory facility and a barbecue.

Ireland

The FDA's Northeast Regional Laboratory (NRL) on July 9, 2001, hosted a visit by the Senior Chemist, Mr. Conor Murphy, State Architects and two other architects from the State Laboratory of Ireland. The State Laboratory of Ireland is planning the construction of a new laboratory building, and the visitors were at the NRL to discuss the planning and construction of the new laboratory facility with the NRL and with the building's management firm Hines. The Senior chemist and State architect also presented a seminar to the NRL and New York District about the functions of the Irish Laboratory and designing of their new lab facility to be built in the country side, outside Dublin.

Korea

The FDA's Minneapolis District Office welcomed Korean Food and Drug Officials including Dr. Dai-Bung Kim, Director, Nutrition Division, Korea Food and Drug Administration. Dr Kim is participating with the U.S. State Department's "International Visitor" program. Under this program, mid-career leaders are invited by U.S. embassies to come to the U.S. for three weeks to meet with their professional counterparts. Dr. Kim's visit was coordinated by the Minnesota International Center. As part of his visit, the district gave Dr. Kim an overview of the operations within a district office, and FDA's priorities. Dr. Kim was quite interested in district operations, and asked numerous questions, especially about import operations. At the close of the meeting, Dr. Kim expressed his appreciation for the briefing and hospitality of the district

Malaysia

The FDA's Los Angeles District Office Import Operations Branch reports, two compliance officers were invited by the Consulate General of Malaysia to brief the Malaysia delegation on "The regulatory Framework of the US. Herbal Market" at Los Angeles, California on March 12, 2001. An overview of FDA import requirements, rules and regulations with the emphasis on herbal products, and a general import procedures were presented and discussed. The presentation was attended and well received by more than forty governmental officials and industry executives who were here to participate in the Natural Products Expo, West 2001.

Mexico

SWID District Director and the El Paso supervisor participated in a meeting with Mexican Agriculture and Health officials at the U.S. Mexico Collaborative Exchange on Food Safety in Mexico City, Mexico on June 22, 2001. The Mexican delegation of about 7 persons was led by Dr. Javier Trujillo, Director - Chief, CONSAG, (National Agriculture Health Commission), Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food and Dr. Guillermo Solomon, Director General of Sanitary Quality of Goods and Services, Ministry of Health (SSA). Camille Brewer, International Activities coordinator, Food Safety, CFSAN, led the U.S. delegation of about 12 persons. The U.S. delegation included representatives of CFSAN, ORA, CDC and SWID. U.S. Embassy staff was also present. This was an introductory meeting to get to know the key officials to establish contacts to improve working relations and plan future coordinated activities to improve food safety in Mexico and the U.S. Ideas for cooperative activities were presented for consideration and several proposed next steps were identified including a directory of contact, communication procedures for emergencies, training in Mexico particularly directed to Mexican state officials and training in seafood inspections of firms in the Yucatan area of Mexico.

Latin American Countries

On May 21, - 25, 2001, the FDA's San Juan District Office presented the course, Introduction to CGMPS for Pharmaceutical Products, to representatives of the regulatory agencies from several Latin American countries and the University of Puerto Rico School of Pharmacy faculty. In addition to the presentations, the course included training on inspection techniques of analytical instrumentation in a drug lab, and a tour of the FDA's San Juan District Office Lab.

This is the first training course presented at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) under the MOU between FDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the UPR. The UPR will offer this course on a continuing basis to meet the training needs of Latin American regulators. The 5-day course was taught in Spanish which required translation of regulations and procedures. The second presentation of this course will be done primarily by the UPR faculty with support from FDA. The FDA's San Juan District Office received assistance from Office of Compliance, CDER and the FDA's Philadelphia District Office.

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