Recent outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to imported produce have drawn attention to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) strategy for foreign inspections. A cyclospora outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce from a Taylor Farms facility in central Mexico sickened 9,481 people, while a salmonella outbreak involving jalapeño peppers from Sinaloa, Mexico, sickened 345 people and led to multiple product recalls. The cyclospora outbreak, which causes nausea and diarrhea, was followed by a 16.4% drop in lettuce prices from June to July.
The FDA currently relies on a combination of foreign facility inspections, border screening, and importer requirements, such as the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, to monitor the U.S. food supply. Under the Food Safety Modernization Act, Congress set an annual target of 19,200 foreign food-safety inspections. However, a 2025 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found the agency averaged 917 foreign inspections annually between fiscal years 2018 and 2023, representing less than 5 percent of the legislative target.
To manage the volume of imports, the FDA has begun implementing "Systems Recognition" and "Regulatory Partnership Arrangements." These programs allow the agency to leverage the oversight systems of foreign governments. Currently, the U.S. has Systems Recognition agreements with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In August 2023, the FDA established a regulatory partnership with Ecuador specifically for aquacultured shrimp. The agency’s 2026 Human Foods Program priorities indicate plans to expand these partnerships to other major exporters, including India for shrimp.
The scale of the challenge involves monitoring roughly 125,000 foreign food facilities across more than 200 countries and territories. Because the FDA has stated the congressional target of 19,200 annual inspections is "unrealistic and unachievable," consumers are increasingly reliant on the "competent authorities" in exporting nations. The shift toward regulatory partnerships, such as the one with Mexico—which provides 60 percent of U.S. fresh-produce imports—means that U.S. food safety will increasingly depend on the information-sharing and inspection records of foreign governments rather than direct U.S. physical inspections of every site.
What happens next: The FDA has outlined new goals in its 2026 Human Foods Program to prioritize the leveraging of foreign competent authorities. This includes advancing the Food Safety Partnership with Mexico and pursuing new arrangements with leading exporters like India. While direct FDA inspections will remain a tool for high-risk foods or facilities with poor compliance histories, the agency will move toward a model of auditing national control systems. Future dates for specific new country agreements have not been reported.