Activities

May 27 Luncheon Featured Remarks from Michael Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods

On May 27, 2010 FDAAA held a luncheon at the Far East Restaurant in Rockville, MD.

FDAAA alumni member Joseph Paul Hile, of Fairfax County, Virginia, former Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs of the Food and Drug Administration, who died Tuesday May 25, 2010, was remembered with a moment of silence and reminiscences.

FDAAA Co-chair of the Activities Committee, Nancy Myers, introduced Michael R. Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods. Michael said he was glad to be back at FDA for the 3rd time and that FDA people are very committed.

Globalization of the food supply and events in the world, for example the foodborne illness outbreaks and melamine contaminated pet foods, impact the publics’ expectations from government which results in changes to public policy. As a result, the President has established Food Safety Working Group at the White House level. The group has embraced prevention as paradigm to oversee the food supply and it wants integration of national food safety at the federal, state, and local level.

Many with knowledge of the legislative process believe that Congress is poised to pass legislation this summer to give FDA new authorities and codify some of the new Administration’s view of new food safety policy. There is a broad consensus to improve a risk based preventive approach. This important comprehensive legislation includes: requirements that both domestic and foreign producers must meet the same HACCP controls and standards; enforceable standards for produce farms; mandatory recall authority and a whole tool kit to act in a preventive way; enhanced import oversight with tool kits to provide assurance that food is produced under the same standards as required in the US.

The FDA is in an implementation mode with the initiation of some of the rulemaking teams, such as the produce safety team who continue to speak to growers large and small for ideas and the CGMP’s rule team will update broad guidelines for sanitary food and risk based preventive plans. These teams are coordinated out of CFSAN, ORA and Deputy Commissioner of Foods office.

FDA must figure out new and different ways for its foods program to work, unify and fulfill expectations. The food system is vast with a wide array of problems that include foodborne illness from microbiological pathogens, chemical contamination of foods, and many other problems.

The Deputy Commissioner for Foods position was created as a new position to get commission level recognition and attention for foods program which has suffered from resource shortages. The foods program has the hardest job in the agency because its responsibilities are open and not defined

In order to upgrade the food program, a single, unified leadership team has been established for the foods program that includes CFSAN, CVM, and ORA. The team is responsible for strategic plans and resources. The team will pull together ten core group teams from across staff to address major topics and how to plan policy and programs, institutional structure, and process change to the root organization.

The group teams include: preventive control; inspections and compliance strategy; import oversight; incidence response; policy; science; federal and state; resource planning; information systems governance; and strategic communication.

Some of the responsibilities for a few of these teams include:

  • Preventive control team - focus the design of enforceable regulations and future preventive controls.
  • Inspections and compliance strategy team- ensure solid science base standards and achieve high rate of compliance with standards; incentivize compliance; deploy workforce in field for compliance to increase compliance and safety
  • Import oversight team - will rely on 3rd party certifications.
  • Policy (a risk informed group) - will look at tools available and how prioritize what FDA looks at for greatest risk and best improvement.
  • Federal-State team: develop more reliance on joint work plans and sharing between the states and Federal agencies.
  • Strategic communication team: will focus on how to communicate internally and externally, especially to make the public aware that even with new legislation patience will be needed for long term system change.

FDA envisions lots of collaboration with industry. Industry is doing things in preventive control that are complimentary to FDA. FDA establishes principles, outcome and standards but industry is knowledgeable of what works.







Drafted by Kathleen Smith; Photos taken by Kelly Sauer