New steps to strengthen FDA’s food safety programme

The President’s 2020 Budget includes new resources to advance the agency’s food safety program, and expand food safety monitoring

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., and Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas recently commented on new steps to strengthen FDA’s food safety programme for 2020 and beyond-

Thanks to innovations in technology and the new requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), we now have more opportunities to strengthen public health and bring innovative food products to consumers than perhaps at any other time in our history.

As part of the President’s 2020 Budget, we’ve proposed new funding across multiple aspects of our food safety system. We must invest to prevent problems from happening by solidifying the agency’s tools under FSMA. We must also embrace new innovations to improve our ability to secure the food supply chain and engage in more effective tracking and tracing of food from farm to fork. This includes continuing to improve our capabilities for both detecting and responding to food contamination when preventive measures alone are insufficient.

The funds we’re requesting for food safety represent the FDA’s commitment to the promises we’ve made to help keep people and animals safe from contaminated food, and our vision of a future in which both human and animal health is protected and strengthened by new and emerging technologies that will create a more digital, traceable, diverse, and safer food system.