Washington, July 2 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it signed a pact with European regulators to share more information about the safety of the food supply.
The FDA said the agreement with the European Food Safety Authority would pave the way for formally sharing confidential scientific information and that it would help protect confidential information under both regions' laws.
Last week, the FDA increased scrutiny of imports of Chinese farm-raised seafood after substances illegal in the United States were discovered in some food.
Europeans and Americans have clashed over issues concerning cloned and genetically modified food, and critics have said the FDA's procedures to inspect foods are too weak to be effective.