What's the price of food and drug safety?

Just a tick over US$5 billion — that’s the budget the US Food and Drug Administration is requesting for 2017. The total includes more than US$200 million for the continued implementation of a new food safety system — the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

The FDA has finalised major rules that implement the core of FSMA, the most sweeping overhaul of the country’s food safety system since the first federal food safety law was passed in 1906. The 2017 budget builds on this work by supporting federal and state efforts to establish enforceable safety standards for produce farms. Funding also will enable the FDA to continue progress to hold importers accountable for verifying that imported food meets US safety standards, as well as conduct food safety audits of foreign food facilities.

The budget also includes funds to address public health safety concerns associated with antimicrobial drug use in animals to better protect antibiotic effectiveness for both human and animal populations; for supporting animal drug and medical device review; and more than US$3 million to be invested in the FDA’s infrastructure to enable the agency to carry out its mission and respond to food safety and medical product emergencies.