An international food fight between the United States and China has been brewing since American officials placed an 'import alert' on Chinese toothpaste. Spurred by extensive media coverage of several incidents, including the recall of over 150 brands of contaminated pet food, US and Chinese officials are actively reviewing oversight and safety mechanisms that govern bilateral trade in foodstuffs and medicines.
These incidents have brought into question the quality of Chinese exports, raising concerns that a sharp increase in food imports from the mainland, and the limited capacity of US regulators to adequately monitor the massive import tide, places American consumers at risk.
In the pet food contamination case, fortunately, the motive of the offending mainland companies was profit, not harming Americans. Regardless, the response to the incident reveals that the US food-monitoring system is functional and living up to commitments established in The Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002.
However, the US response to high levels of a dangerous chemical in Chinese toothpaste drew criticism from mainland officials, who called it 'self-contradictory'. The subsequent holding of US and European food products shipped to the mainland has raised questions about whether Chinese authorities are retaliating or seeking to divert attention.
The US food defence system is not designed to prevent 100 per cent of adulterated foodstuffs entering the country. Testing all products would pose an unacceptable cost to industry, consumers and taxpayers.
However, a system is in place to rapidly identify problems, trace products and processors, and recall products from the market to protect the population.
