FDA Requests Funds for a More High-Tech, Digital Food Safety System
In a statement penned by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas, the two have proposed new funding for food safety initiatives as part of President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget.
“We must invest to prevent problems from happening by solidifying the agency’s tools under [the Food Safety Modernization Act]. We must also embrace new innovations to improve our ability to secure the food supply chain and engage in more effective tracking and tracing of food from farm to fork. This includes continuing to improve our capabilities for both detecting and responding to food contamination when preventive measures alone are insufficient. The funds we’re requesting for food safety represent the FDA’s commitment to the promises we’ve made to help keep people and animals safe from contaminated food, and our vision of a future in which both human and animal health is protected and strengthened by new and emerging technologies that will create a more digital, traceable, diverse, and safer food system.