Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a U.S. overseas missions cable on Friday to alert the international community to the implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act and detail the impact the bill will have on imports.
The Hagstrom Report, an inside-the-beltway Agriculture newsletter, released a copy of the cable, which contains information about a February 23 briefing in Washington, DC for diplomats to learn about how the new law will be implemented and a March 29 World Trade Organization Sanitary and Phytosanitary Committee meeting in Geneva.
Clinton emphasized that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will follow all procedures required under the WTO.
She says the new law “mandates significant changes to help improve the safety of the U.S. food supply” by holding all players in the global supply chain accountable for controlling hazards. In the cable Clinton includes talking points and asks diplomats to attend the meetings to learn more about the new law.