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NOAA, FDA partner on seafood safety

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By SeafoodSource staff
26 October, 2009 - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday announced an interagency agreement to strengthen seafood inspection and improve seafood safety and quality.

The agreement formalizes the working arrangements between NOAA’s Fisheries Service Seafood Inspection Program and the FDA to reinforce each agency’s efforts through cooperation and information sharing in the inspection of seafood products and facilities.

Inspection agents from both agencies will work together when appropriate, and NOAA will share inspection results with FDA.

“Americans are eating an average of 16 pounds of seafood a year — that’s a lot of fish,” said Jim Balsiger, acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “This partnership will help ensure that seafood consumers — who spent nearly USD 70 billion on seafood last year — continue to get safe, healthy seafood through combining our resources with FDA.”

The agreement strengthens the agencies’ partnership and satisfies a Government Accountability Office recommendation that calls for FDA to consider the results of NOAA inspections when determining the frequency of seafood inspections and the use of limited inspection resources.

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