Food Safety Agencies

FDA

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the oldest comprehensive consumer protection agency in the U. S. federal government. Its origins can be traced back to about 1848 as an extension of the Department of Agriculture. Although it was not known by its present name until 1930, FDA’s modern regulatory functions began with the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act precipitated by Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, which highlighted the filth of meat packing.

Today the role of the FDA has morphed from its early beginnings. The FDA is charged with ensuring the safety of:

• Animal feed (including pet food)
• Bottled water (not municipal water)
• Cosmetics
• Human and animal drugs
• Medical devices
• Most food products
• Radiation-emitting products for consumer, medical, and occupational use
• Shell eggs (once cracked for cooking etc. eggs are under the jurisdiction of the USDA)
• Tobacco

Meat, poultry and egg products are not regulated by the FDA (however they regulate game meat such as snake, venison and ostrich meats) that is left to the USDA.


USDA

The USDA was founded in 1862 and regulates the production and distribution of food by inspecting crops and livestock for disease and monitoring meat, poultry and egg production.

The USDA also:
• Oversees the quality of public school lunches
• Administers programs to distribute food to the needy
• Oversees nutrition education (like MyPyramid)

Until the In 1993, most of the USDA performed inspections based on sight, touch and smell. However we all know that organisms that cause disease (germs) cannot be seen or felt or smelled. Then in 1993 an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 occurred in the Pacific Northwest, causing 400 illnesses and four deaths. These deaths prompted the USDA to promote new a prevention-based food safety system called HACCP which stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. Theoretically, this system should prevent disease by assessing the inherent risks attributable to a product or a process and then determining the necessary steps that will control the identified risks.