The government of the United States plays a vital role in food safety by establishing standards and ensuring their enforcement. The food system includes producers, retailers, food manufactures, processors, as well as consumers. According to National Research Council (6), a model food safety system must ensure unification of its mission and have a single official assigned the responsibility for food safety by the federal authorities to ensure implementation of policies of food safety. The 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. Food safety hazards have been defined as “a biological, chemical, or physical agent in, or condition of, food with the potential to cause an adverse health effect” (R823). Thus, regulation makes sure that every food products meet various pre-set standards before they are allowed into the market for consumption by humans and animals according to Food Law (par 9). 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 are assigned 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 and domestic facilities must register with FDA by giving the information related to the food origin and distribution (Food Law 25). The FDA is entrusted with the mandate of ensuring the safety of for local and imported food products consumed in the United States including cigarettes. For instance, The Food and Drug Administration made several restrictions to combat sale of flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco products that lure young people into smoking (Kaplan and Hoffman par 1). FDA and state agencies are aware that an understanding that the state agencies have to d regular inspection of processing firms to identify any problems and ensure that the food products are safe. The FDA also oversees the operations and regulation of egg processing plants involved in activities such as washing, sorting, and packaging of eggs. According to registrar corporations, FDA 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” according to FDA and USDA (par7). 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. The FDA thus works in each state inspects every food processing firm in the state and happens any time without the necessity of announcing the arrival of an inspector. The FDA will ask to see any part of the processing facility, inspect business records, as well as sample some products, which are taken for testing by the agency. In case the manufacturing plant failure to allow the FDA officers to do the inspection, the law may be applied such as securing a court order for inspection. Therefore, a firm must always be ready for inspection by ensuring cleanliness, proper operating procedures, as well as quality production. 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 (“Federal”5). 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. It regulates the food industry through promotion and protection of public health. The body ensures safety of the food supplied, high sanitary conditions, wholesomeness, and well as honesty labeling (National Research Council 26). The CFSAN’s areas of food safety include biological pathogens, natural toxins, dietary supplements, pesticide residues, toxic metals, decomposition, food allergens, nutrients issues, and dietary components among others (CFSAN par 10). The body also works with international systems such as the World Health Organization, among others to help in harmonization of international standards (CFSAN par 17). The agency thus works by providing leadership for the state by regulating retail and institutional food service via development of a model food code (CFSAN par 27). The CVM ensures 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.
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. FSIS does inspection of all meats, poultry, and egg products sold in interstate and foreign commerce such as imports as well as consumer education and can be reached through a hotline 1-888-674-6854 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services par 1). FSIS works by performing pre-mortem and postmortem inspections on all animal and poultry meat, checking for indications of contamination and diseases. Laws on meat and poultry inspection requite nations interested in export of the two products in the US to have an inspection system similar that that provided by FSIS (Brown 29-30). Therefore, FSIS ensures that all foreign poultry and meat processing plants conform to the United States food safety standards before they can be allowed in the country. 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. The body works by inspecting trading activities of packers, marketing agencies, and other merchants to identify phony activities and safeguard all traders against unjust business transactions. GIPSA collaborates with other Federal agencies such as FGIS, FSIS, and CDC it research on new problems through surveillance and epidemiology (National Research Council 43). This ensures that any contaminations are identified in advance and precautions taken.
In the aquatic industry, implementation of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) in the fishery product’s hygiene control measures is ensured. The laws are affected through the Directive 91/493/EEC, which provides information in the hygienic production of food from aquatic animals (Brown 20). Article 6 commands that people responsible for operations in establishments that produce fishery products own checks according to the principles that include identifying of critical points in the process used and establishing monitoring methods (Brown 21). In addition, implementation of the methods for monitoring through taking samples for laboratory checking is required. The law also requires compliance with all specified standards and keeps records of every activity. In addition, it recognizes that other substances that are exposed to food during processing stages can lead to food adulteration. For instance, materials and equipment used during construction of food-contact surfaces can migrate into food. Every plant equipment or utensil should be designed and made of materials, which are cleanable. The designs, construction, as well as use of equipment must not contaminate food with lubricants, fuels, metal fragments, contaminated water, or other contaminants. Food-contact surface must not corrode and should be made of nontoxic materials and have a design that withstands the environment as well as cleaning compounds and sanitizing materials.
The government effort in regulating the Food Industry has shown the United States citizens by recent recall of all the contaminated romaine lettuce. Government agencies did as best they can to minimize the risk of an outbreak of food borne diseases hence guaranteeing the well-being of the United States citizens. The food processing industry is largely regulated by the FDA or USDA FSIS, although the action taken depends on the food product. Every regulated item is to prevent adulterated or misbranded foods from reaching the consumers. Federal agencies act as regulatory oversight bodies. They include USDA FSIS that regulate the meat and poultry processing business activities and FDA for all other food-processing firms. State agencies also pray an active role in overseeing food-processing activities within the respective states with collaboration with other bodies. Food protection is very important in the US and other parts of the world and laws should be enacted to promoted safety all the time.
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Works Cited
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CFSAN-What We Do. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2018. https://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/centersoffices/officeoffoods/cfsan/whatwedo/default.htm
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture - FSIS/USDA. https://healthfinder.gov/FindServices/Organizations/Organization.aspx?code=HR0412
Kaplan, Sheila and Hoffman, Jan. F.D.A. Seeks Restrictions on Teens’ Access to Flavored E-Cigarettes and a Ban on Menthol Cigarettes. New York Times. Nov. 15, 2018.
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