On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outlined its new strategy for food safety and defense of both domestic and imported products. Details of the three-tiered plan were accompanied by a report that contends the agency is making progress in overhauling the nation's food supply chain, Progressive Grocer reports.

The Food Protection Plan, which outlines strategies for prevention, intervention and response, incorporates changes in policy and practice that the FDA first outlined in an earlier version of the Food Protection Plan in November 2007 -- seven months prior to the agency coming under fire by the Government Accountability Office for failing to provide details on the costs or specific strategies for carrying out the plan.

"Science and 21st-century technologies help drive the FDA's efforts to transform our food safety efforts from the Food Protection Plan into a reality," said the agency's commissioner of food and drugs, Andrew C. von Eschenbach. "Every day, the FDA is working with foreign countries, state and local governments, regulated industry and consumer groups to ensure the safety of the food supply. We also continue to work with members of Congress to achieve new authorities requested in the Food Protection Plan."

The central goal of the FDA's stepped-up food safety efforts center on "radically redesign[ing] the process," Dr. David Acheson, the agency's associate commissioner for foods, was quoted as saying in the New York Times. For imported food, Acheson said the agency's primary focus will aim to detect tainted products during the production process rather than after they enter the country.

"We cannot simply rely on picking the ball up at the point of entry," said Acheson, noting that the FDA's overhaul is well under way.

The agency's ongoing objectives to beef up food safety includes hiring at least 130 employees to conduct inspections and collect samples; approving the use of irradiation for iceberg lettuce and spinach to reduce the risk from pathogens; and opening offices in other countries to improve the monitoring of food exported to the United States.

To review the Food Protection Plan, visit: www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/plan.html.

To review the entire one-year summary of progress under the Food Protection Plan, visit: www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food/progressreport1108.html.