Comprehensive verification toolkit is needed domestically, too

Dan Flynn’s June 6 article in Food Safety News, “Third-party auditor certification: Not the only tool in the toolkit,” makes the case that the Food and Drug Administration should not overly rely on third-party audits to oversee the safety of imported foods under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This is certainly true for imported foods, given that Congress included explicit language in FSMA authorizing FDA to utilize, in a limited capacity, third-party auditors. However, the same cannot be said for…