By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist
Two U.S. agencies will work together to oversee the production of human food products obtained from livestock and poultry cells.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the agreement.
The partnership between FSIS and FDA will address the regulatory oversight of human food produced by the technological advancement.
“Consumers trust the USDA mark of inspection to ensure safe, wholesome and accurately labeled products,” USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety Mindy Brashears said. “We look forward to continued collaboration with FDA and our stakeholders to safely regulate these new products and ensure parity in labeling.”
FSIS and FDA described the oversight roles for both agencies. The two plan to collaborate on development and entry of products into trade.
The shared regulatory approach is expected to ensure all items are developed safely and accurately labeled.
“We recognize that our stakeholders want clarity on how we will move forward with a regulatory regime to ensure the safety and proper labeling of these cell-cultured human food products while continuing to encourage innovation,” FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response Frank Yiannas said. “Collaboration between USDA and FDA will allow us to draw upon the unique expertise of each agency in addressing the many important technical and regulatory considerations that can arise with the development of animal cell-cultured food products for human consumption.”
Within the partnership, FDA will oversee cell collection, cell banks and cell growth and differentiation. The process will then shift to FSIS oversight, where the agency will handle the production and labeling of all human food items.
“The formal agreement between the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration to jointly oversee the regulation of cell-cultured foods is a win for America’s farmers and ranchers,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said. “The American Farm Bureau Federation believes USDA should have primary jurisdiction over lab-grown or cell-cultured protein. We also understand that FDA plays a role in determining the safety of cell-cultured products. We look forward to reviewing the joint framework outlining the regulatory process and will work with both USDA and FDA to ensure consumers are protected and our goals are met regarding labeling and food safety.”
The two agencies previously held a public meeting in October 2018 to discuss the future of cell culture technology. Potential hazards, oversight considerations and labeling of cell-cultured food products were the main topics of discussion.
Click here to read more on the formal agreement between FSIS and FDA.
Click here to hear a recorded webinar of the public meeting.