New Federal Food Administration Strips FDA Power, Mandates Annual Inspections for High-Risk Facilities

This legislation, the Federal Food Administration Act of 2025, is a major structural shake-up for how the federal government handles food safety. Simply put, it takes all the food-related regulatory power, authority, and personnel currently housed in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and moves it to a brand-new, independent agency called the Federal Food Administration (FFA), which will sit within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Within one year of the law’s enactment, the FFA will inherit the FDA’s entire Human Foods Program, the Office of Inspections and Investigations, and even the Center for Veterinary Medicine. The mission of this new agency is clear: promote public health by ensuring foods are safe, wholesome, sanitary, and properly labeled. This is a big deal because it means food safety oversight will no longer be competing for resources or attention within an agency primarily focused on drugs and medical devices. It creates a single, focused agency dedicated solely to what we eat.

The New Inspection Schedule: No More Guessing Games

For anyone who works in or relies on the food supply chain—from the factory floor to the grocery shelf—the biggest change is the new, mandatory inspection program laid out in Section 3. Right now, facility inspections can feel a bit random. This bill removes that ambiguity by requiring the Commissioner of Foods to categorize facilities into three risk levels: high, intermediate, and low. Once categorized, the inspection frequency is set in stone:

• High-risk facilities (think processing plants with complex operations) must be inspected at least once every year.
• Intermediate-risk facilities get checked at least once every two years.
• Low-risk facilities (like simple packaging warehouses) must be inspected at least once every three years.

There’s also a special, tighter rule for infant formula manufacturers, who must face an inspection every six months. If an inspection turns up a violation significant enough to warrant a formal citation (the equivalent of an FDA Form 483), the FFA must conduct a follow-up compliance check within 30 days. This means less time for companies to drag their feet on fixing serious problems, which is a clear win for consumer safety.

Power Shifts and Practical Challenges

While the goal is better food safety, the way the FFA is set up introduces some interesting dynamics. First, the new Commissioner of Foods gets significant authority, including the power to issue subpoenas for witness testimony and records related to any investigation. If someone ignores the subpoena, the Commissioner can take them to federal court to force compliance. That’s a serious lever of enforcement power.

Second, the bill requires the FFA to contract with state officials to perform at least half of all mandated inspections. This delegation is designed to increase capacity, but it puts a massive new burden on state and local health departments, whose resources already vary wildly. If your state’s inspection team is understaffed, this new federal mandate could either force them to beef up their teams or lead to inconsistent quality of inspections across state lines.

Finally, the bill gives the FFA the ability to bypass standard federal hiring rules and pay scales (Title 5, United States Code) when appointing members to technical and scientific review groups. The idea is to quickly bring in top-tier experts who might otherwise be unavailable due to federal salary caps. While this could dramatically improve the scientific rigor of food regulation, it also raises questions about oversight. When you skip standard hiring procedures, you need to ensure transparency and guard against potential conflicts of interest, especially since these experts will be advising on regulations that affect major industries.