Rules & Regulations for Food Safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations are all involved in efforts to keep food safe. The need for food safety prompted the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 by the U.S. Congress. These laws are the basis for the many rules and regulations for food safety that have been adopted and amended since 1938 by federal, state, and international agencies.

Origins of Food Safety Rules and Regulations

• The first official government response to the issue of food safety in the U.S. was the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. This landmark legislation addressed the importation or distribution of adulterated or misbranded food or drugs in the U.S. Adulteration as it related to food was defined as adding any substance that injuriously affected the food's integrity, adding any substitute ingredient that affected its quality, or adding any substance to subvert discovery of these additives.

  Misbranding was defined as any attempt to mislead the purchaser by substituting ingredients, offering a different product under a registered trademark name, or not providing accurate information on the label as to the weight and contents of the package and the presence of substances considered to be dangerous or injurious to the purchaser such as morphine, opium, cannabis, chloroform, or chlorylhydrate. These rules and regulations set the standard for later legislative actions taken by federal, state, and local governemental agencies.

Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act

• The second major piece of legislation to address food safety in the U.S. was the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act of 1938. This legislation replaces the Pure Food and Drug Act, while incorporating many of its standards. This act was a response to the deaths of more than 100 patients who were taking the drug sulfanilamide.

  This legislation also resulted in the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which governs all rules and regulations for food safety. Misbranding and adulteration are included, along with newer issues such as dietary supplements, allowances for substitutes (oleomargarine, for example), pesticide residues tolerances, bottled water standards, infant formula requirements, and rules and regulations regarding new food additives as they are introduced to the marketplace. One result of this legislation that is most recognized is the appearance of the signatory "FD&C" categorization of food coloring additives, such as "FD&C Yellow" or "FD&C Red".

  Vitamin and mineral supplements also fall under the jurisdiction of FD&C rules and regulations.

Food Safety Principles

• The rules and regulations for food safety focus on three main types of possible contamination that commonly affect food during harvesting, processing, transportation, and serving. These are physical, chemical, and biological contaminants. Physical contamination includes any substance that may come into contact with food, such as clothing fibers, hair, metal shavings from cutting utensils, or insect residue. Chemical contamination is caused by pesticide residue, cleaning products for food preparation and processing surfaces, the presence of metals such as brass or copper from shipping and storage containers, or food additives that are intentionally added as preservatives, such as sulfite for shrimp processing and wine-making. Biological contaminants include bacteria, viruses, and microscopic parasites that invade food. These contaminants are often hard to keep away from food, because they are present in the atmosphere, in the water, and are carried on the human body as well. Irradiation devices are used to decontaminate food along the supply chain, although the chemicals used for irradiation must be identified on the labeling of any food product that has gone through the irradiation process.