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Opportunity Alert   Export Boosters

Strategic Hit   Port of San Diego Comes Back to PIERS

In March, when the first reports of dogs and cats being sickened and killed by their food came in, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigators suspected an accident. They soon found that the lethal pet chow had been deliberately adulterated with melamine, an ingredient in plastics and pesticides. Processors in China added the chemical to wheat flour to boost nitrogen levels - an indicator of protein content - and so command a higher price in the export market. In the U.S., melamine wound up in feeds for poultry, hogs and farmed fish, as well as pet food.

Pet food companies recalled some 5,800 products. The FDA ultimately ordered all vegetable protein imports from China and destined for human or animal food to be held for testing. (Ordinarily, the FDA inspects about 1% of incoming cargoes under its jurisdiction.)

But the effectiveness of such FDA safeguards was called into doubt by an Associated Press investigative report that found one of every four shipments of seafood from China slipped through without inspection despite a similar FDA "import alert." The AP's primary source in the seafood investigation was PIERS import trade data. [Read the story in the Los Angeles Times.]

PIERS also helped the AP trace the unchecked route taken by toothpaste tainted with an antifreeze chemical from China through Tacoma and Seattle to the Metro State Prison in south Atlanta. [Read this story in the Washington Post.]

Through the summer, evidence mounted that China's lax regulation had produced a bumper crop of health hazards for export: formaldehyde-laced candy, lead-painted toys, incendiary space-heaters ... The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 60% of this year's recalled consumer products were made in China.

China has noted that the high-profile recalls represent a fraction of the $250 billion worth of goods it sent to the U.S. last year. But it also launched an overhaul of its State FDA (and, in July, executed that agency's former head for accepting bribes in exchange for drug approvals).

In Washington, legislators proposed strengthening the five-year-old country of origin labeling (COOL) law, and levying new fees on importers to fund more FDA inspections. President Bush set up an Interagency Working Group to develop plans to guarantee the safety of food and products imported into the U.S.

Post-9/11, federal law required food companies to trace products one step forward and one step back in the supply chain. The new regulation that follows this summer's scandals will surely require still more due diligence from more importers.

There are many reasons to know who's buying and selling what in the global marketplace. To learn how you can use PIERS trade data to track imports, log on to www.piers.com/piersproducts/, or call +1 800 952 3839, ext. 7128.

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