미국 식품안전현대화법의 제정에 따른식품규제법제의 변화- 유럽의 전망과 한국식품법제에의 시사점을 중심으로 -

Foods that are traded as a commodity move across the border. And the food safety problems are spread across the border. However, the food regulation to solve this problem is restricted in the national border. To tackle food safety problems, the US FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. FSMA is regarded as the most sweeping reform of US food safety laws. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by changing the regulative focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. FSMA focuses on the following tools. Preventive controls, risk-based inspection, qualified third party accredition, imported food safety, mandatory recall. For the first time, FDA has a legislative mandate to require comprehensive, prevention-based controls across the food supply to prevent or significantly minimize the likelihood of problem occurring. FDA has new tools to ensure that imported foods should meet U.S. safety standards to ensure the health of food consumers. Importers must verify that their foreign suppliers have adopted adequate preventive controls in place to ensure safety, and FDA will be able to accredit qualified third party auditors to certify that foreign food facilities are complying with U.S. food safety standards. Furthermore, FDA has mandatory recall authority for all food products. The agency has other new authorities that are also in effect: expanded administrative detention of products that are potentially in violation of the law, and suspension of a food facility’s registration. FSMA provides a framework in which FDA can make up transnational regulatory system through mutual recognition and cooperation. However, the FSMA regulations and guidelines for enforcement do not equipped with. The relevant rulemaking process is underway. Despite the change through the FSMA, the individual food components standard are not changed. Because of these reasons, the US Congress continue to discuss the matters about the use of growth hormones, nanotechnology applications for food item, novel food materials standard and consumer information. While watching these changes, European Union has raised the same issue with the issues raised in the US Congress. Korea also need to apply a preventive regulatory measures for imported food safety management. Korean food safety authority can reinforce the surveillance capacity by taking the advantage of the third-party certification and by utilizing a mutual recognition scheme.