The stubborn FDA standard
Though the FDA experts knew that some of their standards may not be very applicable to another country, they still showed their stubbornness in this training course.
In the past, there was a popular method to avoid antibiotic excess in China, which was to put non-antibiotic chemicals, for example, lime, into the culture pond of aquatic products to disinfect them.
However, Julia commented on this method negatively. She said all chemicals that are not approved by the FDA cannot be allowed for use when exporting to the U.S.
Some enterprise representatives then raised a question: Can they follow the regulations that are more favorable to them, by comparing those of the federal government and of the state government? They had done some research and found that the regulations are different in different states.
Julia responded like a loyal watchdog for the interests of the U.S., and said all products can only enter the U.S. market on the prerequisite that they are in compliance with the FDA's standards. Once they are detained by a state due to quality problems, the aquatic products can never be transferred to other states, not like China's policy of domestic sales of commodities originally produced for exports.
This made the audience feel the FDA's expert had a fossilized way of thinking.
Asking for a better China Office
Among the enterprises that sent trainees to attend the session, many were leaders in their business. But they were not satisfied with the current role the FDA's China Office is playing.
Li Xiaofeng said that over the last ten years, the exported Chinese aquatic products have never caused a food safety accident in the U.S. because China has established a very scientific way of supervising the aquatic products for import and export.
Li also noted that since the FDA has reached out its hand to China, it will not retreat. But China needs a better FDA branch to remove the questions domestic enterprises have about export policy and help ensure food safety around the world.
