Border Wars: What Are the Boundaries between FDA and USDA?

The responsibilities of the Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture would seem to be clear cut.  FDA is responsible for Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics while USDA is responsible for agricultural products, right?  But an agricultural product can become a food, drug, or cosmetic.  Where in the supply chain does a product make the transition from one jurisdiction to the other?  Well, it turns out to be right in the middle of your sandwich.  If it's an open-face sandwich, it's regulated by USDA.  If it's closed-face, it's FDA.

While most of the time the responsibilities of FDA and USDA are, in fact, well defined and intuitive, there are many areas of potential overlap.  The two agencies have worked to clarify their roles and insure cooperation by issuing memoranda of understanding for the benefit of their stakeholders.  Here are a few excerpts that people in the regulated industries may find useful.

In broad terms the USDA is responsible for the safety of meat, poultry and egg products, while the FDA regulates all other foods.  However, when you get below 50,000 feet, the view gets murky.

Poultry is regulated by USDA.  The Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) defines the term poultry as any domesticated bird. USDA has interpreted this to include chickens, turkeys, domestic ducks, domestic geese and guinea fowl.  FDA is responsible for all other birds including wild turkeys, wild ducks, wild geese and Emus.

USDA handles meat or meat containing products for species mentioned in the Meat Inspection Act: cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules or other equines.  Pepperoni pizza falls under USDA, while cheese pizza belongs to FDA.  FDA is also responsible for all red meats not specified by the Meat Inspection Act (bison, rabbits, game animals, zoo animals and all members of the deer family including elk and moose). 

Eggs are regulated by USDA.  Egg processing plants (egg washing, sorting, egg breaking, and pasteurizing operations) and products that are basically known for their egg content, such as egg rolls, are under USDA jurisdiction.  FDA has exclusive authority over restaurants, institutions, food manufacturing plants, and other similar establishments that break and serve eggs or use them in their products, eg., bakeries, cake mix plants, etc.  If you're a vaccine producer and you use eggs to incubate your seed virus, expect a visit from USDA.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/The-Us-Food-Safety-Sys...