The recommendations were immediately endorsed by president Bill Clinton and Democrats who have pushed for tougher food laws, as well as by senator Susan Collins of Maine, the first senate Republican to focus on the issue.

But imposing US inspection standards on other nations could trigger a backlash from trading partners, some industry groups claimed.

The report, prepared by the General Accounting Office (GAO), said the Food and Drug Administration should require exporters to adopt ``equivalent'' safety standards for fruits and vegetables, much like the agriculture department does with meat.``FDA cannot realistically ensure that unsafe foods are kept out of US commerce,'' the report said. ``GAO recommends that the congress require all foods eligible for import to the UnitedStates, not just meat and poultry, be produced under equivalent food safety systems.''

As many as 9,000 Americans die annually from food borne diseases, and tens of thousands of others are sickened, according to federal estimates.

The report was released by Collins, who heads the senate subcommittee on investigations. The panel, which usually probes issues such as government waste and campaign finances, was scheduled to hold the first of four hearings on food safety on Thursday.

``We're spending upwards of $1 billion a year on food safety.I don't think we're using those resources as wisely as we could,'' Collins said. The concept of ``equivalence'' for fresh produce standards ``is something worth looking at,'' she said.

With less than 40 working days left before congress ends in October, any food legislation is unlikely to gather enough steam to be adopted. But the issue could play a prominent role in the autumn elections, said congressional aides.

A variety of proposed laws to give the FDA and theagriculture department more authority have been proposed by Democrats during the past few months.Clinton repeated his call on Monday for legislation that would send FDA inspectors to foreign countries to halt imports of unsafe produce. The FDA called the report a ``wake up call'' for congress to allocate additional funds for FDA inspectors.

``While FDA believes that imported foods are generally safe, recent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses demonstrate that imported foods can introduce new risks,'' said FDA deputy commissioner Michael Friedman.

``FDA has warned that it was in danger of being overwhelmed by the volume of products reaching US ports.''But some industry groups responded coolly to the report's recommendations.``This could have a potential adverse impact on trade,'' said a spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers of America. ``You may get into a situation where foreign countries decide to arbitrarily stop imports of US food.''

Currently, FDA officials inspect just 1 to 2 per cent of foodimports under their jurisdiction and the pace of imports has increased rapidly as Americans demand more fresh produce year-round. Last year, 38 per cent of fruit and 12 per cent of vegetables consumed by Americans were imported.

The growing volume of food imports has been accompanied by outbreaks of salmonella, E coli, cyclospora and other foodborne diseases. While the FDA has urged US and foreign growers to carefully monitor workers' hygiene, water quality and manure management, the agency has little power to enforce standards in other nations.