Food and Drug Administration

A US agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, established in 1927 from a division of the Bureau of Chemistry; its name is commonly abbreviated to the FDA. A scientific, regulatory and public-health agency, it has jurisdiction over most foods, animal and human drugs, biological therapeutic agents, medical devices, radiation-emitting devices, cosmetics and animal feeds, evaluating applications and enforcing standards. Its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition oversees the US food supply — additive approvals, labelling rules, the Food Safety Modernization Act’s preventive-controls framework — while drugs, biologics and devices fall under sister centres. FDA inspections, import alerts and recalls shape global trade, since exporters worldwide must meet its requirements.