By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a formal agreement to collaborate more between the two agencies, specifically when it comes to overseeing food production.
“Commissioner Gottlieb and I signed a formal agreement to promote coordination and the streamlining of capacities and obligations on shared concerns and jurisdiction,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said. “Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act and assigned responsibilities to the USDA and the FDA. The USDA has the knowledge and expertise to support the FDA’s work related to farming. We at the USDA have a motto: Do Right, and Feed Everyone. We believe this joint effort will help us move one step closer to that goal.”
The agreement is an opportunity for the two agencies to strengthen an already existing partnership.
USDA and FDA are both responsible for overseeing food production. USDA inspects most meat, poultry, catfish and certain egg products, and the FDA oversees all other foods including dairy, seafood, produce and packaged foods.
The agencies hope to improve many areas through the partnership, including the implementation of produce safety measures and biotechnology efforts.
The agreement also commits the agencies to identify ways to better align and enhance their efforts to develop regulatory approaches to biotechnology.
“Secretary Perdue and I share a deep commitment to further strengthening our nation’s food safety system in the most effective and transparent way,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “Over the last several months, the secretary and I have worked closely and identified several areas where we can strengthen our collaboration to make our processes more efficient, predictable and potentially lower cost to industry, while also strengthening our efforts to ensure food safety. This agreement not only formalizes this ongoing coordination, but presents a great opportunity to expand those efforts through better integration and increased clarity to the agriculture and food processing sectors. Our coordination with these sectors plays an integral role in helping to keep our nation’s food supply safe and secure.”