The U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act: Implications in Transnational Governance of Food Safety, Food System Sustainability, and the Tension with Free Trade
25 Pages Posted: 1 Oct 2015
Date Written: Spring 2015
Abstract
Our national food systems are global and interconnected. This has made domestic regulation less effective. Mutual recognition and cooperation among national regulatory systems is necessary to increase both efficiency and effectiveness. The US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) provides the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for the first time, a legal framework in which the agency could weave itself into a transnational regulatory system through mutual recognition and cooperation. This authority raises potential World Trade Organization concerns, but if properly implemented, such an interconnected international system would magnify the benefits of each nation’s vigilance without offending any trade agreements.
Keywords: Food and Drug Administration, food governance, FDA, food law, food safety, Food Safety Modernization Act, food trade, free trade, FSMA, global food law, HACCP, HARPC, imported food, international food law, SPS, TBT, WTO
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