SILVER SPRING, Md., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As part of its continuing effort to buttress food and medical product safety in this country by working with its regulatory partners overseas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the opening of its Mexico City post. This is the Agency’s third post in Latin America and its tenth international post in the past 13 months.
“The opening of this office represents an important step as we re-design our product safety strategy. We, like our partners in the Mexican Government, realize that prevention is the key. For example, more than a third of the fresh fruits and vegetables we eat come from Mexico as do a large amount of our medical devices. Having FDA experts located permanently there will be mutually beneficial to both our countries and respective citizens,” said U.S. FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D.
FDA staff also will offer collaboration on the use of the latest laboratory techniques, foster other collaborative initiatives to ensure the safety of food and medical products marketed in the two countries, and be a “portal” to the FDA for counterpart Mexican agencies and the U.S.-export industry in Mexico.
To date, the FDA has opened 10 international posts, including posts in China, India, Europe, and Latin America, along with its USA-based staff. The other posts in the Latin America Office are located in Santiago, Chile, and at the FDA’s Latin America Office headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica.
HHS Web Page on Import Safety
http://www.importsafety.gov
Media Inquiries: Rita Chappelle, 301-796-4672 (o) or 240-753-8603 (c), rita.chappelle@fda.hhs.gov
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA
CONTACT: Rita Chappelle of FDA, +1-301-796-4672 (o), +1-240-753-8603 (c),
rita.chappelle@fda.hhs.gov
Web site: http://www.fda.gov//
