Food and Drug Administration

"FDA" redirects here. For other uses, see FDA (disambiguation). For the department concerned with food production, see United States Department of Agriculture.

Food and Drug Administration
Agency overview
FormedJune 30, 1906; 118 years ago (1906-06-30)[1]
Preceding agencies
  • Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration (July 1927 – July 1930)
  • Bureau of Chemistry, USDA (July 1901 – July 1927)
  • Division of Chemistry, USDA (established 1862)
JurisdictionFederal government of the United States
HeadquartersSilver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
39°2′7″N 76°58′59″W / 39.03528°N 76.98306°W / 39.03528; -76.98306
Employees18,000 (2022)[2]
Annual budgetUS$6.5 billion (2022)[2]
Agency executives
Parent agencyDepartment of Health and Human Services
Child agencies
Websitefda.gov Edit this at Wikidata

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, caffeine products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, animal foods & feed[3] and veterinary products.

The FDA's primary focus is enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C). However, the agency also enforces other laws, notably Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act as well as associated regulations. Much of this regulatory-enforcement work is not directly related to food or drugs but involves other factors like regulating lasers, cellular phones, and condoms. In addition, the FDA takes control of diseases in the contexts varying from household pets to human sperm donated for use in assisted reproduction.

The FDA is led by the commissioner of Food and Drugs, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The commissioner reports to the secretary of health and human services. Robert Califf is the current commissioner as of February 17, 2022.[4]

The FDA's headquarters is located in the White Oak area of Silver Spring, Maryland.[5] The agency has 223 field offices and 13 laboratories located across the 50 states, the United States Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.[6] In 2008, the FDA began to post employees to foreign countries, including China, India, Costa Rica, Chile, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.[7]

FDA Building 31 houses the Office of the Commissioner and the Office of Regulatory Department of Health and Human Services.[8] The agency consists of fourteen Centers and Offices.[note 1]
  1. ^ "FDA Centennial 1906–2006". Food and Drug Administration. Archived from the original on May 24, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2008.
  2. ^ a b "FY 2022 FDA Budget Request". FDA. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  3. ^ "Animal Food & Feeds". Food and Drug Administration. Archived from the original on March 22, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  4. ^ "Robert M. Califf M.D., MACC". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. February 17, 2022. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  5. ^ "White Oak Campus Information". Food and Drug Administration. February 9, 2011. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  6. ^ "FDA Overview" (PDF). Food and Drug Administration. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  7. ^ "FDA's International Posts: Improving the Safety of Imported Food and Medical Products". Food and Drug Administration. Archived from the original on August 10, 2010. Retrieved April 10, 2010.
  8. ^ "About the FDA Organization Charts". Food and Drug Administration. August 29, 2014. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2015. FDA is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services and consists of nine Centers and Offices, which are listed on the menu to the left.


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).