Who are the FDA and what do they do?

Thursday, June 5, 2014

FDA Food and Drug Administration

Who are the FDA and what do they do?

FDA stands for Food and Drug Administration in the United States of America. The FDA is responsible for monitoring the food and medicines as well as the companies that manufacture, sell, promote and otherwise distribute those same food and drugs that Americans rely on in order to survive. The FDA is responsible for several different industries and monitoring their practices, ethics, growth, marketing tactics and so on. The of the FDA is to protect the American people as well as inform them and provide general heatlh and safety through its check and balances sytem. Learn more about the FDA at their main website http://www.fda.gov/

FDA Approval?

Its pretty common for companies and distributors to promote their FDA acceptance or approvals. The FDA has a system of identifying and labeling their levels of acceptance, approval or exemption for medical products and or medical devices. A device could be:

'approved'
'listed'
'exempt'
or, 'cleared'

Learn more about FDA approvals and what the terms mean when applied to medical devices at FDA approval terms and what they mean

Did you know that the FDA also regulates Veterinary drugs?

Its TRUE! As the main government agency that regulates the medical field, medicines, and medical devices the FDA is also charged with regulating the medicines that are available to our pets and animals. The FDA has an entire division dedicated to animal and veterinary practices. They regulate the medicines, what the animals are fed, animal disease control, and more. The FDA is very active in which laws are passed regarding the treatment and and rights of animals and the industry in general.

The FDA monitors what we eat and who feeds us to make sure we are healthy!

It seems like it might be an impossible to task but the FDA is also charged with keeping Americans safe from food born diseases and food born illnesses. By regulating the food industry, farmers, livestock, the way our food is handled and processed etc. the FDA is able to prevent wide spread diseases that can be fatal for American consumers.
There is a laundry list of tasks that are related to regulating the Food industry. One major role that the FDA plays is the science and research that goes into the food we all eat. The FDA is working towards improving Americans diets by requiring companies to add labels that display true nutritional facts, finding the source and eliminating obesity rates and much more.

FDA complaints?

As you can imagine there will be complaints with organization charged with so many responsibilities. There are many consumer advocate groups that feel the FDA has made costly errors and can do a better job. The FDA does have a complaint department and complaint coordinators in place. There are online resources that will allow you to contact a coordinator and let them know about your complaints

Learn more about the FDA and what they do online, at their main website Food and Drug Administration main site