Food Regulation in the United States

The two major food regulatory agencies are the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The FDA’s food regulatory responsibilities include all foods except meat, poultry, and egg products. FSIS’s regulatory responsibilities include meat, poultry, and egg products. There are other federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and a few others that also periodically develop regulations associated with food, but food is not their primary focus. This chapter will review the different laws and responsibilities of the FDA and FSIS.