The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it is requesting a budget of $4.7bn in 2014, which includes about $295.8m to strengthen food safety.
The agency noted that the user fees would fund 94% of the proposed budget increase, including new fees to support the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and strengthen the FDA's ability to oversee imported food.
The budget will seek to transform food safety. Most of the funds will be used to support implementation of the FSMA, which provides authorities and mandates for the FDA to build a modern, prevention-focused domestic and imported food safety system to protect the health of American consumers.
The budget proposes a food facility registration and inspection fee and a food importer fee. The President's budget proposes a fee to be paid by food importers that would both improve the safety of the food supply as well as ensure the smooth and predictable entry of safe foods into the US, thus strengthening trade by domestic and overseas trading partners.
In addition, the budget will also support the FDA's capacity to detect and address the risks of products and ingredients manufactured in China and to help assure that these products do not result in harm to Americans.
