Report to Congress on the National Agriculture and Food Defense Strategy (NAFDS) - 2015
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requires many deliverables from FDA, among them special reports and studies to be submitted to Congress.
Submitted April 2015
Report to Congress
Report to Congress on the National Agriculture and Food Defense Strategy
Submitted pursuant to Section 108 of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (P.L. 111-353)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Download the Full Report (PDF: 480KB).
Protecting the nation’s food and agriculture supply against intentional contamination and other emerging threats is an important responsibility shared by federal and state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments as well as private sector partners. American consumers depend on these entities to ensure that U.S. agriculture and the food supply are safe. In addition to meeting the longstanding expectations of stakeholders, the federal government must also meet new legislative mandates. In January 2011, the President signed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). While FSMA focuses on ensuring the safety of the U.S. food supply by shifting the focus of federal regulators from response to prevention, it also recognizes the importance of strengthening existing collaboration among all stakeholders to achieve common public health and security goals. Specifically, FSMA section 108 directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA), in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), to develop and implement the National Agriculture and Food Defense Strategy (NAFDS).
The NAFDS details specific food and agriculture defense goals, objectives, key initiatives, and activities that FDA, USDA, DHS, and other stakeholders plan to accomplish to meet the objectives outlined within FSMA. The NAFDS will be used to evaluate and monitor progress and determine whether any modifications are needed. These activities will be accomplished based on the availability of fiscal resources.
The NAFDS charts a direction for how the federal agencies, in cooperation with SLTT governments and private sector partners, protect the nation’s food supply against intentional contamination. Within section 108, Congress specifically lays out four overarching goals – Preparedness, Detection, Emergency Response, and Recovery. This strategy outlines the goals, the supporting objectives, and key initiatives that the federal government will undertake over the next 4 years to support the goals. Achieving the stated NAFDS goals of FSMA is a long-term proposition. It will require continuous learning and improvement, accountability, collaboration among Food and Agriculture Sector partners, and a commitment to research, training, and measuring progress. The reward will be improving our collective ability to prepare for, detect, respond to, and recover from threats to our nation’s food supply.