Don't be surprised to see more scrutiny by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of imported seafood over the next few months thanks to the inclusion of Senate language in the final fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills signed by president Donald Trump on Friday.

The legislation retains language earlier argued for by Louisiana Republican senators John Kennedy and William Cassidy that requires FDA spend at least $15 million on its inspections of imported seafood during the fiscal year, a $3.1m, or 26%, increase over fiscal 2018.

The US government's fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, meaning the impact could be felt shortly.  

The Senate voted, 83-16, on Thursday afternoon to approve a legislative package that included seven spending measures, and the House followed suit with a 300-128 vote later in the evening. Trump's signature on Friday ended the months-long budget standoff tied to his efforts to secure funding for a wall on the southern border, though a battle now is expected to begin over his much-reported national emergency declaration.

The legislation keeps the federal government running for at least seven more months and avoided another partial shutdown from taking place like the 35-day event that earlier caused several problems for the seafood industry.

Fresh raw shrimp in Kerala, India. Credit: Santhosh Varghese/Shutterstock.com

In its Monday morning recap of food-safety-related appropriations measures that made it through, Food Safety News noted that the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which now handles inspections of US-raised catfish as well as imported pangasius, was given a budget of $1.272 billion, about $13m more than it spent in fiscal 2018 and about $8m less than it was budgeted in fiscal 2017.

FSIS inspectors, which are better known for their work in guaranteeing the safety of fresh meat and poultry, are deemed “essential” and therefor were required to continue working throughout the recent shutdown.

The FDA, meanwhile, received $3.1bn in discretionary spending authority and $2.5bn from certain user fees for a total of $5.6bn. That included $2.8m more for food safety; $5m more to deal with food safety outbreaks, $500,000 to test imported seafood for antibiotic resistance; $2m for standard of identity and product labeling; and $1.5m for consumer education and biotechnology outreach.

The Alliance for a Stronger FDA, one of the groups that most often argues for funding at the food safety agency, declared in a statement that it was "extremely pleased with the conference bill".

'[Y]ou could grow an extra ear or glow in the dark'

Multiple sources neglected to mention the command that FDA spend $15m on imported seafood inspections, however, a check of the legislative language confirms the continued existence of Kennedy's and Cassidy's provision.  

"[N]o less than $15m [of the $1.06bn provided to FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition ] shall be used for inspections of foreign seafood manufacturers and field examinations of imported seafood," directs HJ Res. 31, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019. 

As reported by Undercurrent News in July, Kennedy had put forth a colorful argument for the language on the Senate floor.

“The FDA does the best it can [within its budget],” he said. But “98% of the foreign seafood coming in is not even tested. When it’s tested, the FDA often finds that it contains salmonella, it contains listeria, it contains dirt and it contains illegal drugs, like antibiotics. What does that mean? Well, if you eat enough of this stuff, aside from the fact that you could grow an extra ear or glow in the dark, you develop a resistance to antibiotics.”

John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), a group that lobbies on behalf of US domestic shrimp harvesters, applauded the move in a press release issued late last week. He noted earlier US Government Accountability Office reports that found a low percentage of imported seafood inspections and a high percentage of imported seafood discovered with banned antibiotics.

In particular, Williams expressed concern about shrimp from India, which he noted have been the source of more than half of all shrimp imports refused by the FDA due to contamination by either salmonella or banned antibiotics.

Louisiana senator John Kennedy arguing successfully for an amendment to give FDA more money for handling seafood inspections.

India is also the largest source of shrimp imported by the US, accounting for 33% of it in November, the latest numbers available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The FDA must increase inspections of imported seafood to take away incentives to use banned antibiotics in foreign aquaculture,” Williams said. “In the United States, 98.8% of imported seafood enters the country without examination. Other major markets are doing a better job of enforcing food safety laws, causing the United States to become a dumping ground for contaminated seafood.”

Also not noted by other media outlets is that the final appropriations language singed by president Trump continues instructions to FDA to "not allow the introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of any food that contains genetically engineered salmon until the FDA publishes final labeling guidelines for informing consumers of such content."

The legislation orders the FDA to, no later than July 1, revise advice provided in January 2017 regarding the consumption of seafood to be more consistent with nutrition science previously recognized by FDA. The topic has been a running concern for the National Fisheries Institute.

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