USDA and FDA Commit to Work Together to Ensure Food Safety

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which are in charge of enforcing the country's food safety laws, agreed to enhance their cooperation and coordination, review biotech regulations, and apply a new system for farm safety inspections.

According to their formal agreement, USDA and FDA share jurisdiction over food products in interstate commerce. Specifically, USDA regulates certain meat, poultry and egg products under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) and Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA) and implementing regulations. On the other hand, FDA regulates all other foods not within the scope of these statutes and regulations. Under the shared responsibilities of the current framework, a number of food processing facilities fall under the jurisdiction of both FDA and USDA.

USDA and FDA also expressed that they are both committed to modernizing the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology and the U.S. agricultural biotechnology regulatory system to develop efficient, science-based regulatory practices for products of biotechnology with assistance from other federal agencies, as part of the National Strategy for Modernizing the Regulatory Systems for Biotechnology Products.

Read the formal agreement published by FDA.