President Bush on Tuesday announced his strong support for tougher product safety measures that would give mandatory recall authority to the Food and Drug Administration and increasing penalties on companies that import unsafe products to the United Sates.

The Advisory panel delivered 14 recommendations, including tougher penalties on companies importing unsafe products and giving mandatory recall power to the FDA.

The sheer magnitude of the import-export enterprise makes clear that our nation cannot inspect its way to safety, the advisory panel said in a statement.

The new proposals include providing the FDA with the authority to require that producers of high risk foods in a particular country certify that their products meet FDA standards in order to export to the US.

The recommendations would necessitate an increase in budget for the agencies involved, including FDA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, in order to allow for greater oversight, said Mike Leavitt, head of Health Human Services Secretary and head of the Panel.

Safety