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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 



I am here today at the invitation of the Subcommittee to 

 describe the current legal and regulatory regime for seafood 

 safety and the adequacy of that regime for ensuring a reliable 

 supply of safe seafood products to the American consumer. It 

 has been a year since the last Congressional hearing on seafood 

 safety. Consequently, this is an appropriate moment to update 

 the Congress on our activities. I would like to offer some 

 background first for the benefit of this subcommittee. 



I . BACKGROUND 



A. Seafood Presents Special Challenges 



The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of the primary 

 Federal regulatory agencies responsible for food safety, 

 including seafood safety, in tne United States. FDA 

 administers several acts including the Federal Food, Drug, and 

 Cosmetic (FD&C) Act, which prohibits adulterated and misbranded 

 food in interstate commerce. Although the FDSC Act does not 

 distinguish seafood from other foods in this regard, we know 

 from decades of experience that seafood has unique qualities 

 that require specialized skills and knowledge for us to carry 

 out our statutory responsibilities. For example, FDA has 

 state-of-the-art research facilities dedicated solely to 



