Office of Food Protection

The Office of Food Protection provides advice and council on strategic and substantive agency-wide domestic and imported food related matters. The Office has been charged with developing and implementing an agency-wide, visionary strategy for food protection and an agency-wide approach to promoting health via foods.

 

Major Functions

Food Protection Activities

• Develop an agency-wide, visionary strategy for food protection as a comprehensive, integrated, global trajectory to an optimal national foods system for FDA regulated food.  In the strategy, characterize changes in food safety and the global food safety and defense system and identify current and future food safety and defense challenges and opportunities.  Identify the potential barriers, gaps, and most critical needs for an integrated preventative approach to ensuring the safety of FDA regulated food of both domestic and foreign origin.
• Develop and track an operations plan to direct and implement specific agency-wide food protection actions and initiatives (immediate and future).
• Ensure the communication of agency-wide food protection policies and program decisions to organizational components.  
• Serve as liaison to Department of Health and Human Services on food protection issues. Ensure that effective relationships are established and maintained for communication and exchange of information and progress toward Agency, Departmental, and Administration food protection and defense goals.
• Conduct outreach with federal, state, local, and international agencies, academic and non-profit organizations, professional and trade associations, industry, and the public to communicate FDA food safety and defense vision and related actions and initiatives to create a climate for cooperative work relations, and support and understanding of the FDA’s food protection program objectives.

Health Promotion Activities

The Office of Food Protection is tasked with providing agency wide leadership in all areas of foods including health promotion and nutrition.  The goal of this initiative is to convey the positive health benefits of FDA regulated foods.  The Office is in the process of developing and coordinating health promotion activities in collaboration with other FDA centers, government agencies, and industry to promote the health benefits of food and raise the visibility of the FDA’s role in this area.

 

Office of Food Protection Staff

Dr. David Acheson Associate Commissioner for Foods	Kari Barrett Senior Advisor
Rebecca Buckner Food Safety Specialist	Claudine Kavanaugh Health Promotion Specialist
Chad Nelson Senior Program Analyst	Alissa Van Wie Project Analyst
Cassandra Pusey Management Analyst