FDA Explains the FDA-State Partnership to Keep Foods Safe

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) heralded a new era of enhanced collaboration between the FDA and its counterparts in state governments across the country. 

The states have an important role in bringing to life the FSMA mandate that the prevention of illnesses, rather than response to outbreaks, should be the cornerstone of the nation’s food safety system. This is especially true when it comes to helping FDA implement FSMA’s produce safety rule, which, for the first time, establishes enforceable safety standards for the production and harvesting of produce.

Why is this collaboration so important in protecting the safety of the food supply? Why does FDA need the states, and vice versa? FDA Acting Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine Erik Mettler, New York’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets Richard Ball, and Executive Director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials Joseph Corby, talk about the evolution of this federal-state partnership in In This Together: Explaining the FDA-State Partnership to Keep Foods Safe.