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 entering the EEC. These certificates show that the "central 

 authority" of the source country attests that the product was 

 B^de in a plant operating under a regulatory regime 

 ("conditions") equivalent to that called for in EEC Directives. 

 On January 1, 1995, the EEC intends to have a HACCP style 

 program in place. After that time other countries will need to 

 have equivalent manufacturing requirements in order to export 

 to the EEC. 



The industry has requested that FDA initiate a program to sign 

 such export certificates. The Agency intends to do so. 



FDA has a vigorous research program for seafood in support of 

 its regulatory mission. In a field as broad and complex as 

 seafood safety, there will probably always be problems that 

 require highly advanced research to solve. FDA research forms 

 the basis for the Agency's understanding of the extent and 

 severity of hazards, for risk assessment, and for risk 

 management. Seafood research is carried out at the FDA's 

 Northeast and Gulf Coast seafood laboratories, at our Seafood 

 Products Research Center in Washington State, in FDA 

 headquarters laboratories, and in several of the Agency's 19 

 field laboratories. FDA currently has about 100 ongoing 

 research projects related to hazards posed by microbes. 



