“To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure the safety of imported seafood.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes safety requirements for imported seafood by adding a new section 810 to chapter VIII of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. It prohibits such imports from a foreign country unless the Secretary of Health and Human Services certifies the country's program uses reliable analytical methods to ensure compliance with U.S. standards for seafood manufacturing, processing, and holding (i.e., equivalence requirement) and directs annual inspections—plus periodic follow-ups—of each exporting facility. It mandates inspection and testing of at least 20% of all imported or offered seafood annually; 100% of the first 15 shipments from each new exporter; 100% of subsequent shipments from an exporter after one failure until 15 consecutive passes; and a one-year import ban after more than three failures in a year (followed by certification and heightened inspections); with all shipments from a country refused entry upon a pattern of failures until country certification. It further requires fees on exporters to fund inspections; detention or destruction of failed shipments (unless re-export criteria met, with "UNITED STATES: REFUSED ENTRY" labeling, 45-day foreign acceptance window, and destruction mandated for significant health risks); and notification to ports of entry within five days of failures, detentions, or destructions. It limits imports to ports of entry with adequate personnel.
This section establishes a cooperative seafood inspection program authorizing states to inspect, test, and certify seafood imported or offered for import into the United States. Under the program, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must provide training to and certify state officials as federal agents, while grant recipient states must comply with federal standards in performing these activities and any other duties required to ensure seafood safety.