21 U.S.C. § 1401 — Pesticide monitoring and enforcement information

(a) Data management systems.

(1) Within 480 days after August 23, 1988, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must put computerized data-management systems in place for the Food and Drug Administration. The systems must let the Administration: (A) record, summarize, and evaluate its food pesticide-residue monitoring results; (B) find gaps in monitoring pesticides, food products, and food from particular countries and domestic sources; (C) detect trends in residues and identify emerging public-health problems; (D) direct testing resources toward residues that threaten public health; (E) prepare the summaries described in subsection (b); and (F) provide information to help the Environmental Protection Agency perform its duties under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

(2) As soon as practicable, the Secretary must develop a way for the systems to produce the summary described in subsection (c).

(3)(A) Paragraph (1) does not limit the FDA’s authority to use these systems or create additional systems to help regulate any substance or product covered by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. (B) In putting the systems in place and carrying out paragraph (2), the Secretary must follow applicable rules for computer-system design and procurement.

(b) Information. The FDA must use the systems to summarize: (1) information about the types of imported and domestically produced food products analyzed for compliance with the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act regarding the presence of pesticide residues; the number of samples of each kind by country of origin; residues detectable by the testing methods; residues found and their levels; each sample’s compliance status and the violation rate for each country-and-product combination; and the action and final disposition for each violating sample; and (2) the country of origin and United States entry district for each imported food product covered by paragraph (1)(A).

(c) Volume data. The FDA must use the systems to summarize, by country of origin and entry district, the volume of each kind of covered food imported into the United States when its entry value exceeds an amount set by the Secretary. When feasible, the FDA must obtain the volume information from other Federal agencies’ databases.

(d) Compilation. No later than 90 days after one year has passed since the systems were put in place, and every year after that, the Secretary must compile a summary of the subsection (b) information for the previous year. Once the FDA can make subsection (c) summaries, the Secretary must include that information too. These compilations must be available to Federal and State agencies and other interested people.