By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007; D02

Federal regulators could collect more than $200 million a year in import fees under legislation introduced yesterday by a senior Senate Democrat that aims to strengthen oversight of food brought into the country.

Under the bill introduced by Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), companies and countries exporting to the United States would pay up to $20 to the Food and Drug Administration each time they brought seafood, fruits or vegetables into the country. The bill would also require countries to show that their food-safety standards are equivalent to those in the United States and be certified.

The legislation applies only to products under the oversight of the FDA, not the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the import of beef and poultry.

Durbin's proposal comes as concerns are rising about the safety of food imported into the United States, particularly from China. Last month, the FDA began requiring Chinese importers of five types of seafood, including catfish, to show that their products had been tested for banned antibiotics. That followed reports of other potentially unsafe products from China: tainted pet food, toothpaste manufactured with toxic chemicals, toys coated with lead paint and defective tires. House and Senate committees have scheduled hearings on food safety next week.

The money raised under the legislation would be used to hire more FDA inspectors, who currently check about 1 percent of imports, and to research better methods for detecting contaminants, Durbin said. "We just don't have the resources necessary to inspect the food imports into the United States, which leaves consumers in our country vulnerable," he said. The FDA already uses a fee system with drug manufacturers seeking approval for their products.

Requiring countries to be certified to export to the United States would bring the FDA in line with a system used by the USDA, said Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America.