I recently wrapped up a jam-packed, five-day visit to China, a fascinating country with a dramatically growing economy and an increasingly significant effect on the products that U.S. citizens consume. Indeed, a key reason for my trip is the important and growing collaboration between the FDA and our counterpart agencies in China for the purpose of ensuring the safety of the large volume of foods and medical products exchanged between our two nations.

Of the 200 countries that export products to the United States, China ranks first in dollar value to our nation. It is the sixth-largest provider of food and also the sixth-largest provider of drugs and biologics. Only the United States has more FDA-registered drug establishments than China. These numbers are growing; between 2007 and 2013, China’s annual exports of FDA-regulated products to the United States nearly quadrupled, reaching 5.2 million “lines” (portions of a shipment) of imported goods in 2013.

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