FDA seeks more oversight in China

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants tough laws that will allow it to keep out products from Chinese companies that prevent or delay plant inspections, Stephen Sundlof, an FDA director, told the Reuters Food Summit on Tuesday.

The safety of Chinese products, including food, have become an issue after pet food shipped here last year was contaminated with melamine, a chemical used in plastics, and worries about contaminated Chinese catfish and shrimp.

Earlier this year pesticide-contaminated dumplings from China sickened people in Japan.

"If there was an undue delay, or if they flat out refused to allow us to inspect, we would refuse their products entry in to the United States. That is an authority we don't explicitly have at this point," said Sundlof, who is director of FDA's Center of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Also, FDA seeks stronger rules regarding inspections.

"We have asked for legislation that would give us the authority to certify the Chinese authorities to inspect to our standards, or to certify a third party that would inspect Chinese goods in China before they were ever loaded on ships to come over," he said.

The FDA -- in charge of protecting 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, mostly fruits, vegetables and processed foods -- has faced intense criticism following safety scares during the last few years involving spinach and peanut butter, along with imported Chinese seafood and toothpaste.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(Reporting by Bob Burgdorfer; Editing by Andre Grenon)