Aimed at enhancing U.S. food safety after a series of high-profile product warnings and recalls, on July 30, 2009, the House passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (HR 2749 RFS). According to some experts’ estimation, if Chinese exporters don’t have any useful countermeasures, the export volume to USA will be decrease 20% to 30% in 2010.

Nowadays, USA is the second market for Chinese food exporting. According to statistics, in 2008, the amount of food exporting to USA has reached USD5.2 billion. Adding some other relative products, such as food packing, the total amount is about 10 billion dollars every year.

In 2008, Fujian province’s food exporting amount to USA is 46 million dollars. USA also is Xiamen’s main market. From the statistics of Xiamen Administration of Inspection and Quarantine, at the front ten months of 2009, about 200 Xiamen companies’ food exporting amount to USA reached 11 million US dollars, including vegetables, can foods, aquatic products and food package.

The bill mentioned wide range of products which will have a potential influence to Chinese. It requested all the companies pay some legal fees, and enhanced third-party testing, risk-based preventive controls, food recalls and origin reports. Only except meat, egg and part of wine, most of foods, feeds, pet foods, food packages and ceramic table wares will be widely influenced.

In order to minimize the bill’s bad influences and keep good development of food exporting to USA, Xinglin Administration of Inspection and Quarantine appealed that, exporters should pay special attention to this bill, make some adjustment to adopt its requirements, and follow FDA’s series rules.

Xinglin Administration of Inspection and Quarantine said, they will open the latest news of this bill for exporters to do advanced prepares. Also, they hope exporters can communicate with government timely if they have some news. They will analyze and follow its process together.

News materials: H.R. 2749 RFS

The bill has total two volumes, 39 chapters. It is to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act to improve the safety of food in the global market, and for other purposes. There are six aspects mentioned in Import-Export foods: First, enhance company registration, ask them to pay some legal fee; Second, enhance company inspection, the products who delay, limit, or refuse FDA’s inspection will be treated as False Food; Third, enhance Third-party’s registration and approve, FDA can check every Laboratory approve administrations and Third party Laboratories; Fourth, enhance risk-based preventive controls, all the registered food companies should issue a risk-based preventive control project; Fifth, enhance food recalls, FDA is authorized of seizing import foods for checking without any evidences; Sixth, enhance origin registration, the products that without last produce address or anti-artificial food didn’t mark the origin will be signed as Wrong Mark foods.