How Can the FDA Regulate Over 3.5 million Facilities and Establishments?

For years, food establishments, farms, and food facilities have been calling on the Food and Drug Administration, to integrate its efforts with both state and local governments. The FDA surveys over 3.5 million different food industries, from restaurants, farms, food packing facilities, and drug manufacturing facilities.

With efforts from both the FDA and state governments to deem their products both safe and of quality, company owners struggled keeping up with regulations, food safety visits, and data collections. Luckily, the FDA put in place the Integrated Food Safety System, which partners efforts between federal, state, and local efforts. There are many benefits that come with this program. 1.) It minimizes the duplication of food safety activities (through food safety, health code visits, production processes, etc.) 2.) Allows for the prioritization of activities across the different levels of regulations 3.) Minimizes the set of standards (utilization, collection, data reporting, laws) 4.) Allows access to data across all forms of regulations, whether that be on a federal, state, or local level.

With support from local and state level governing, the FDA can oversee establishments more effectively and with better quality. They additionally, put in place special programs such as the standard food safety program, called FoodSHIELD, which provides education on both public health and food-oriented establishments. FoodSHIELD also provides trainings in crisis mitigation, communications, and asset coordination.