FDA poised to adjust inspection regulations for imported food.

FDA is likely to propose a major shift in how it inspects and regulates imported food, as Americans continue to devour vast amounts of imported, and sometimes exotic, food. The goal is to shift to a "risk-based" system under which FDA inspectors, using extensive information, would focus on shipments posing the biggest potential hazards. To do that, the agency could collect more data from overseas on how foods are produced and handled--called "life-cycle" data--and feed it into a database for its inspectors.

Under the new approach, countries and private businesses--including foreign manufacturers, importers and U.S. manufacturers using imported ingredients--might be required to provide FDA with more information about the production, packaging and transportation of imported foods.

Currently, critics say, FDA inspectors are expected to block tainted imports but often get little information indicating which imports might be dangerous. Over the past 10 years, the number of imported food items has tripled while the FDA's food budget has stagnated. As a result, only 1 percent of food imports are physically inspected.

Under the proposal, FDA would spend little time worrying about products from countries considered to have strong food-safety standards, such as Britain and Canada, and focus instead on products and countries with less-stringent regulatory standards, such as China. But any comprehensive retooling of the FDA import policies would require approval from the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House, and increased funding from Congress.