FDA’s restructuring of field operations in effect

The FDA announced on Oct. 1 that restructuring of its field operations (formerly the Office of Regulatory Affairs and now the Office of Inspections and Investigations or OII) is now in effect. 

The agency’s restructuring of field offices impacts how it oversees all FDA-regulated products, including animal food. The new structure is intended to enhance collaboration between its field investigators and other subject matter experts throughout the FDA. 

For animal food, officials from FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) informed NGFA the field restructuring means:

• Animal food investigators will only perform animal food inspections. In other words, FDA investigators will not conduct both human food and animal food inspections but will instead be trained for their specific inspectional focus.
• FDA compliance program activities will be coordinated on a centralized, rather than a district, basis. As this transition occurs, FDA points of contact will be updated and communicated on the agency’s website.
• FDA compliance functions will change, with some functions currently being handled by a District Office transferred centrally to CVM or OII. 
• The agency will continue to rely heavily on state partnerships to conduct animal food inspections.