As officials prepare to sign the Transpacific Trade Partnership (TPP) next month, the national advocacy organization Food & Water Watch is warning that the controversial trade deal will exacerbate already flawed food safety import systems. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Wenonah Hauter, the group’s executive director, outlined existing problems with USDA’s Food Safety Inspection System (FSIS), and called on Vilsack to strengthen its international program.
“It is unconscionable that the Obama Administration has allowed our food safety import standards to slip, particularly in light of the aggressive trade agenda it has pursued that will undoubtedly increase the volume of potentially risky imported food items coming to the U.S.,” said Hauter of her letter. “The equivalency determination process at FSIS is in shambles and will only be further undermined by the TPP.”