The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is tapping the shrimp-farming industry to help it draft guidance for third-party certification programs to ensure certified products meet its requirements. The agency is currently seeking independent certification organizations to participate in a pilot project for farmed shrimp; the deadline to apply is Aug. 25.

The project was unveiled in early July by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt at the inaugural Import Safety Summit in Washington, D.C.

Leavitt chairs the Working Group on Import Safety, which advocates a risk-based approach to protecting the U.S. food supply, including training foreign inspectors and certifying producers of high-risk foods.

“Just as the value of trade has changed, we must change our strategy. Simply scaling up our inspections isn’t going to work,” says Leavitt. “A centerpiece of our new strategy is to leverage and build on that kind of effort. It already exists — we are seeing it work.”

“It’s encouraging. The administration acknowledges that third-party certification organizations have the ability to enhance the work the FDA is already doing,” says Wally Stevens, executive director of the Global Aquaculture Alliance.

The GAA and the independent Aquaculture Certification Council, which certifies shrimp hatcheries, farms and processing plants worldwide using the GAA’s (Global Aquaculture Alliance) Best Aquaculture Practices, plan to apply to participate in the project, says Stevens.

One-quarter of global shrimp production, including 40 percent of Thai shrimp exports and one-third of U.S.-consumed shrimp, go through a BAP (Biodiversity Action Plan)-certified facility.

“I view what we’re doing today as a working program, not a talking program,” he says. “FDA is clearly well advanced in food-safety training, and to think that in some way we potentially could collaborate with FDA to even further improve food safety is a pretty intriguing thought.”