The Food and Drug Administration has come out with a new set of rules in order to make sure that any food being imported into the United States is safe for consumption. These rules are proposed to confirm that food inspectors actually take their time to check what’s being imported. Statistics are showing that only about 2 percent of foods being imported are actually being thoroughly inspected by officials.

These new guidelines are meant to ensure that foreign food importers are meeting U.S standards and could cost the food industry approximately $472 million annually. Around 50 percent of fruits and 20 percent of vegetables consumed are imported into the U.S. Also, it is projected that 3,000 people die from food illness each year.

Some illnesses caused by poor quality of imported food include a listeria contamination of Italian cheese that killed four people. There were also cases of bad papayas, mangoes, nuts, and spices. These new rules will put more responsibility on the companies importing the food and will make sure that they are using proper safety procedures. Even though many importers are already following the steps provided by the FDA, the ones who are not have contributed to the death of many people who were part of food caused outbreaks in previous years.