Global market poses food safety challenge, health chief says

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt found Americans' taste for imports on display Wednesday at the century-old Pike Place Market. While the apples he bought were local, the strawberries were imported from Mexico and the vegetables from South America.

Food has become a global commodity even in a city rich with local produce. But the system for assuring the safety of imported foods is not adequate for the future, he said.

"We have the safest food supply in the world, but it's not perfect," he said. "It has to get better because more and more products are coming in from outside the U.S."

Leavitt stopped in Seattle to announce a plan to improve the safety of imports by certifying them before they arrive in the U.S. and imposing tougher penalties for companies whose products don't meet the standards.

Against the backdrop of recalls of toys, pet food, toothpaste and other products made in China, Leavitt said he plans to travel to China next month, hoping to finalize and sign agreements on the safety of food and medical products exported to the U.S.

But it's not a problem confined to China, he said, adding that U.S. consumers purchase $2 trillion worth of products from 825,000 sources through 300 ports.

"The world's changed a lot," Leavitt said as he walked around the sprawling food stands and chatted with seafood and produce vendors. "If you want to see a global market, it's here," he said. Consumers "want strawberries in February. They want sunflowers in November."

With so many imports, the government can't inspect everything at the border, he said, so it needs a different strategy. The new plan would use third parties to do mandatory safety certification of riskier products before they are allowed into the country. That would mean more American personnel in key foreign ports, Leavitt said.

Information about certified firms and importers who use only certified firms would be made public, and the use of electronic tracking technologies would also be expanded.

The plan would also increase fines against violators, including raising the cap on civil penalties from less than $2 million to $10 million, and giving the Food and Drug Administration power to recall food products if companies act too slowly.

Enforcement against foreign companies, however, could be challenging because food products often have so many sources and suppliers it's hard to identify the origin of the ingredients.

Leavitt's office has held meetings with senior Chinese officials since August aimed at drafting two agreements, one on safety of food and animal feed and the other on drugs and medical devices.

The agreements are aimed at increasing cooperation and information sharing between the two governments on safety issues and helping the Chinese raise technical capacity of their regulatory agencies to meet U.S. standards.

Chinese have complained that import restrictions on farm-raised Chinese fish are unfairly protectionist and will increase costs both sides pay for seafood.

Leavitt said the Chinese agencies oppose some parts of the proposed agreement, but "they know they have to meet our standards or consumers are going to reject their products."

Leavitt, a former three-term governor of Utah, also met with Issaquah-based Costco earlier Wednesday to seek the company's ideas on the import safety plan.

But a consumer backlash has already begun. Several shoppers interviewed in Pike Place Market said recent problems with food and toy safety have changed their buying habits. This holiday season some vowed not to buy products from China at all.

"We should buy locally," said Shelly Larkin, of Seattle. "We should buy from the U.S."

"You don't know what you're getting, what diseases are coming over in those containers, what critters are coming over in those containers," she said. "We're buying crap."

While she did purchase furniture made in China recently, Larkin said she would not buy any food products, no matter what new government safety measures are in place.

"I'm not assured by anything the government does," she said. "I don't trust anyone, especially not the Chinese government."

Kristi Heim: 206-464-2718 or kheim@seattletimes.com