Imported seafood: problems go ignored

In 2002, it took the U.S. Food and Drug Administration an average of 348 days to alert port-of-entry workers about serious food-safety problems with seafood products coming into the U.S. from six foreign companies. That was one of the findings in a U.S. General Accounting Office report to Congress released today. Even when FDA inspectors had recommended that seafood shipments be immediately detained for safety reasons, many days passed while FDA headquarters reviewed the recommendations.

The GAO report made six recommendations to the FDA on seafood safety.