Which agencies partake in food defense activities?

• A. FDA and EPA
• B. USDA and CDC
• C. FSIS and FDA
• D. FSIS and CDC

Answer: (C)

Food defense is about protecting the food supply from deliberate contamination and ensuring rapid detection and response to threats. The agencies most responsible for this across most foods are FSIS and FDA. FSIS, part of USDA, regulates meat, poultry, and certain egg products and carries out security and recall authority, facility registration, and vulnerability assessments as part of safeguarding the supply chain. FDA oversees all other foods and runs dedicated food defense programs to secure facilities, identify vulnerabilities, and coordinate incident response. While EPA and CDC have important public health and environmental roles, they aren’t the primary regulators for food defense across the broad food supply. That makes the combination of FSIS and FDA the best fit for food defense activities.