美國主要的食品公司有鑑於近來進口食品問題可能會令消費者裹足不前，於18日宣佈改善計劃，包括強化現有食品安全規範，並且挹注資金給最主要的聯邦管理單位。
食品業界居領導地位的公司General Mills Inc.、Cargill Inc.、ConAgra Foods Inc.和Hershey Co.組成食品雜貨製造協會，提出一系列計劃，以設法平息民眾因含鉛玩具、有化學殘留物的海鮮及其他問題進口商品等相關報導所引起的恐慌，而這些問題商品絕大部份來自中國大陸。
該協會表示：「最近的這些事件已經充份暴露出我國食品安全網的不足之處。」
為了重建美國民眾的信心，這些公司希望政府能夠強化業者應遵行的規範，以確保進口的食品或其他商品都符合品質要求。不僅必須強制遵守最新的美國食品藥物管理法，甚至要求進口公司必須證明他們的供應商也同樣遵守該法規。
美國的進口食品量一年成長15%，而在2006年食品暨藥物管理局（FDA）僅能夠檢驗規範商品清單中不到2%數量，因此一般認為FDA面臨資金與人員編制的嚴重不足，所以該協會也計劃挹注資金給FDA以改善情況。
改善計劃的藍圖預計將由布希的行政團隊於11月提出細部建議。但負責健康事務的官員強調，每年有約2兆美元的商品流入美國，而且這個數字還在持續成長，要透過抽查檢驗來完全杜絕食物安全問題，幾乎是不可能的任務。
食品雜貨製造協會也希望美國官員可以與其貿易夥伴更緊密的合作，例如檢查外國工廠，並幫助政府找出他們自己的問題。
但這個計劃並沒有納入一些較積極的措施，例如伊利諾州參議員德賓（Dick Durbin）等評論者所倡議的方式：向所有的進口商品收取規費以資助更大層面的檢驗工作。
消費者聯盟(Consumers Union)代表民眾看守消費者權益，而Jean Halloran則是該聯盟負責追蹤食品安全問題的人，她表示：「這個計劃對食品業界而言象徵重大的進步，因為我們同意擁抱更嚴格的規範。」
Top U.S. food companies, worried recent import scares may turn away customers, launched a plan on Tuesday to add teeth to existing safety guidelines and increase funding for bare-bones federal regulators.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which includes leading companies like General Mills Inc., Cargill Inc., ConAgra Foods Inc. and Hershey Co., proposed the steps in a bid to ease fears stirred this year by reports of lead-laden toys and chemical-laced seafood and other goods imported into the United States, largely from China. "Recent events have exposed weaknesses in our nation's food safety net," the group said.
To restore Americans' faith, the firms want to enhance government guidelines on how companies verify the quality of food or inputs they import. Not only would new U.S. Food and Drug Administration precautions become mandatory, but companies would be required to prove their suppliers are complying.
Their plan would also inject money into the FDA, widely seen as underfunded and understaffed. With U.S. food imports growing 15 percent a year, the FDA was able to inspect less than 2 percent of the goods it regulates in 2006.
The blueprint comes as the Bush administration prepares its own set of detailed recommendations, expected in November. Health officials stress it is simply impossible to prevent safety problems through inspections, with $2 trillion worth of goods flowing across the U.S. border a year and growing.
The Grocery Manufacturers also want to see U.S. officials doing more with trading partners, perhaps inspecting foreign plants and helping governments track their own problems.
But the plan does not include more ambitious steps that some critics, like Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, advocate, like a fee on all imports to help fund stepped-up inspections.
Jean Halloran, who follows food safety at the Consumers Union, a watchdog group, says the plan marks "a remarkable shift" for the industry in embracing more strict regulation.
參考資料：路透社報導
作者
In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
