JACKSON, MI — The Food and Drug Administration is restructuring its Human Foods program to bring the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Office of Food Policy and Response, and some functions of the Office of Regulatory Affairs under a new deputy commissioner.
The new structure will add a Center of Excellence in Nutrition to prioritize the agency’s efforts to improve consumers’ food choices, and an Office of Integrated Food Safety System Partnerships to integrate food safety and response activities with state and local regulators. It will also add an external advisory committee to talk to the FDA about food safety, nutrition and technologies issues.
Janet Woodcock, FDA principal deputy commissioner, said the new deputy commissioner for human foods would have “a clear line of authority” when speaking of everything dealing with human foods in the FDA’s scope. This includes food recalls and outbreaks, food science, and labeling and nutrition. The search to fulfill the position is currently occurring nationwide.
The changes were prompted by recommendations resulting from an independent investigation conducted by the Reagan-Udall Foundation following a baby formula recall and shortage.
