2007 Was a Busy Year for FDA Import Alerts

The Food and Drug Administration blocked imports of 11 types of questionable foods and drugs in 2007, a significant increase from recent years.

Last year's 11 import alerts effectively ban the affected products from the USA until they're tested and proved safe. In the previous two years combined, the FDA added just six alerts that remain in effect, according to FDA data.

Eleven in one year makes for a "busy year," says Ted Poplawski, FDA import alert official.

About 270 FDA import alerts are in effect. Some are 30 years old.

On rare occasions, the agency adds an import alert and then lifts it shortly thereafter. Those aren't included in the FDA's data.

Three alerts added last year covered products from China: vegetable proteins such as wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate, some toothpaste and five types of farm-raised fish. A less-sweeping alert restricted imports of bottled water from three firms in Armenia after tests showed the presence of high levels of arsenic.

The 11 alerts came in a year marked by the largest pet-food recall — caused by contaminated Chinese ingredients — and multiple discoveries of potentially dangerous products for humans.

Read the full USA Today story here.