Food legislative policies and laws are essential in effective management and regulation of the food industry. Food industry regulation refers to legislation put in place by the government of the United States to regulate all aspects of food production, how food is stored and handled when buying and selling (Curtis). Food industry regulation ensures various pre-set standards are met by all food products before they are allowed into the market for consumption. This paper investigates steps and measures taken by the Government of the United States to regulate the food Industry and ensure the safety of food products available to the consumers.
Various federal agencies, state bodies, and local organizations have the duty to regulate the food supply chain in America. The Federal mandate for regulating the Food industry primarily rests with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is in charge of guaranteeing the safety, viability, and security of local and foreign food products intended for human and animal consumption. It also has the responsibility of inspecting fish and other sea products. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is a federal agency with the responsibility of overseeing the safety and quality of nearly all meat and poultry products and by-products ("Food Law").
Food safety oversight is largely, but not exclusively, divided between two agencies, the FDA and the USDA. The USDA mostly oversees meat and poultry; the FDA mostly handles everything else, including pet food and animal feed. Although this division of responsibility means that the FDA is responsible for 80% of the food supply, it only gets 20% of the federal budget for this purpose. In contrast, the USDA gets 80% of the budget for 20% of the foods. (Nestle.)
State and local food authorities work in collaboration with the federal government to “extensively regulate” the food industry and ensure food safety ("Food Guidance " Regulation"). Additionally, the state and local authorities have the responsibility of regulating the retail food establishments in their jurisdictions.
The FDA is entrusted with the mandate of ensuring the safety of more than three quarters (80%) of all local and imported food products consumed in the United States. It ensures the food products are safe, wholesome and of nutritious value, and also certifies the accuracy of the labeled information. It also has the mandate to regulate poultry and meat products of birds and animals that are not under USDA regulations ("Food Guidance " Regulation"). These Poultry products include products from wild turkeys, ducks, and geese while meat products include meat from animals such as game animals, rabbits and members of deer family such as moose and elks. The FDA also oversees the operations and regulation of egg processing plants involved in activities such as washing, sorting, and packaging of eggs. FDA also regulates meat products with “less than 3% raw meat, less than 2% or more cooked meat or other portions of the carcass or less than 30% fat, tallow, or meat extract, alone or combined” ("FDA and USDA: Who Regulates What? | Registrar Corp"). Health safety of eggs is a shared duty between the FSIS and the FDA. FDA has the authority to oversee establishments that deal in eggs or that use eggs as ingredients in their food products.
There are two FDA offices in Washington Dc that that are key in food safety and regulation related activities; The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). CFSAN has the responsibility of performing, aiding and verifying research on food safety in addition to creating and enforcing food quality and safety requirements. Additionally, it is responsible for overseeing and evaluation of FDA food monitoring and conformity programs and coming up with relevant food-related information for consumers and the food industry. The CVM has the responsibility of ensuring that all animal feeds, drugs and all devices used for veterinary services are well labeled, safe for use and pose no health hazards to humans when used by animals kept for food production (Katz, and Boland).
FSIS, another federal agency, has the responsibility of ensuring safety, sanitary and correct labeling of almost all local and imported meat and poultry products, including their by-products. According to the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, FSIS is obligated to inspect meat and meat products destined for local and international trade, including the slaughtering and processing stages (Antle). “The poultry products inspection act of 1957 gives the FSIS the mandate to inspect” (curtis) and regulate all poultry meat products. FSIS performs extensive pre-mortem and postmortem inspections on all animal and poultry meat, checking for indications of contamination and diseases (Johnson). FDIS Inspectors have the responsibility of keeping an eye on all operations, making sure clean working conditions are maintained, ensuring appropriate ingredient levels are obtained, auditing files and certifying plans for safeguarding food safety. According to FSIS, no slaughtering and packaging of any animal or bird may happen without an FSIS inspector being available (Johnson).
FSIS has the responsibility to ensure all foreign poultry and meat processing plants conform to the United States food safety standards before they can be allowed to deliver their products to the US market ("Food Law"). FSIS works in collaboration with state’s meat and poultry examination establishments to ensure only quality and inspected produce is availed to consumers. FSIS takes the responsibility for inspecting State meat and poultry products if it deems that the local establishment does not meet the required standards or if the state decides to quit inspecting their produce. States with their own meat and poultry inspection establishments can only sell their product within their states (Brown).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, has the responsibility of monitoring, distinguishing and examining infections and diseases caused by food contamination. It also works with the other agencies to formulate and “evaluate control methods for these foodborne infections” ("CDC and Food Safety | Food Safety | CDC"). . CDC keeps track of foodborne diseases and investigates drug-resistant illnesses. The CDC has legislative authority under the Public Health Service Act to conduct and oversee research on foodborne diseases ("CDC and Food Safety | Food Safety | CDC").
Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is another agency that plays an important role in guaranteeing the safety of food products available for consumers in the American market. GIPSA, part of USDA, key role under its Packers and Stockyards Program is to inspect trading activities of packers, marketing agencies and other merchants to identify phony activities and safeguard all traders against unjust business transactions. GIPSA conducts investigations under its Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) program to administer quality guidelines and reliable systems for grains in the American market ("Grain Inspection, Packers " Stockyards Administration"). By doing this it ensures only safe high-quality grains are available for consumers.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (MMFS) and The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also play important roles in food industry regulation. The MMFS, an arm of the Department of Commerce, works with the FDA to inspect seafood and provide grading systems that center on marketing and quality traits (Bigby, and Bigby). This ensures all seafood products that enter the US market are healthy for human consumption. The EPA ensures all agricultural chemicals do not pose any health hazards when used for farming. Pesticide program, an office of EPA, is a member of the bureau that investigates, registers and reviews new and old pesticides in addition to ensuring they have no negative effects on human health and crops.
Other federal bodies have a significant role in regulating the food industry. They include organizations such as the Agriculture Research Service, Agricultural Marketing Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services. They work in collaboration with FSIS and FDA to regulate the American food industry. This collaborative effort amongst the agencies ensures all food products that get to the US market are healthy and safe for consumption. The government effort in regulating the Food Industry has seen the United States being ranked amongst countries with the safest food systems in the globe (Haugen).
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