One month into the FDA’s new Human Foods Program, Deputy Commissioner Jim Jones will appear in an Alliance for a Stronger FDA webinar.
The FDA, the nation’s oldest comprehensive consumer protection agency, began a new chapter on October 1. The new human food program went into effect after a reorganization that affected the entire FDA.
For more than a century, the FDA’s responsibilities include helping ensure the safety of food products consumed by hundreds of millions of American consumers while promoting healthy diets and improved nutrition.
The unified Human Foods Program, a new model for field operations and other modernization efforts, has only been underway for a few days. It follows the largest reorganization in the agency’s modern history, which affected more than 8,000 employees and touched nearly every facet of the FDA.
FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, MD, and Jones said at the kickoff of the new organization: “We appreciate the dedication and enthusiasm of the FDA staff who are with us on this reorganization journey, as well as the helpful feedback we have received. from external parties over the past year and a half.”
They said the creation of the Human Foods Program will enable the FDA to most effectively achieve its mission to protect and promote public health through science-based approaches to prevent foodborne illness, reduce diet-related chronic diseases and ensure the safety of chemicals in food.
This will allow the FDA to focus on those issues where intervention has the greatest potential to prevent disease and promote wellness.
“We are confident that the new world-class Human Foods Program will better protect and support consumers and enhance our employees’ ability to carry out the FDA’s public mission.” they continued.
A key part of this reorganization also includes restructuring and renaming the field operations unit so that it can focus on inspections, investigations and imports as its core function. The restructuring of the Office of Inspections and Investigations, formerly the Office of Regulatory Affairs, extends beyond food products and affects how the FDA oversees all FDA-regulated products, including drugs and medical devices.
The FDA has created an enterprise-wide structure to enhance collaboration between our field investigators and other subject matter experts across the agency. This structure will modernize and strengthen the entire agency, enabling it to work cohesively and collaboratively to accomplish our collective public health mission.
“We will also be piloting a new online consumer complaints form to improve the consumer experience when submitting complaints and handle complaints internally more efficiently and effectively. This will help the FDA better detect and respond to emerging public health risks,” FDA leaders said.
The FDA’s changes demonstrate its commitment to building a stronger, more integrated and modernized agency. This is FDA’s goal for the entire agency, including FDA laboratories, food safety and nutrition, medical products, tobacco products, and cosmetics.
The changes are only a few days old, but the agency hopes the modernization and reorganization will increase transparency and trust in the FDA as the work continues.
The Alliance for a Strong FDA works with Congress to secure adequate funding for agency programs. Jim Jones will appear on the Alliance Webinar series on October 31st at 2:00 PM EST. The Alliance Webinar Series is free; you just need to register. For more information please contact Steven Grossman
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