FDA's Food Safety Division Gets Fired: New Federal Food Administration Takes Over All Regulation

When you hear about a food recall or a new rule on nutrition labels, you probably think of the FDA. Well, get ready for a name change. The Federal Food Administration Act of 2025 is setting up a brand-new, independent agency called the Federal Food Administration (FFA) and handing it the keys to the entire U.S. food safety and security system.

This bill, laid out in Sections 1 and 4, essentially firewalls the food safety portion of the FDA, transferring all functions, personnel, assets, and regulatory power—including the Human Foods Program and the Center for Veterinary Medicine—to this new FFA. The goal is to centralize food regulation under a single Commissioner of Foods, who must be a scientific expert and will be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term.

The Great Divorce: What This Means for the FDA

Imagine splitting a large company: within 180 days of this law passing, the FDA has to hand over everything related to food. This massive, mandated administrative transfer is the biggest immediate challenge. While the intent is to create a more focused, expert-led agency (Section 2), the reality is that moving thousands of jobs, records, and ongoing investigations in under six months could create serious operational turbulence. For the federal employees involved, this means uncertainty as their entire department is ripped out and re-established under a new boss and structure.

Your Food Safety Gets a Risk Rating

For consumers, the most tangible change is how the new FFA will handle inspections (Section 3). The current system has sometimes been criticized for being inconsistent. The FFA is required to create a formal risk-based inspection schedule within one year, categorizing facilities as high-, intermediate-, or low-risk. If you're a parent buying infant formula, you’ll be interested to know that manufacturers of infant formula must be inspected at least twice a year (every six months).

Here’s the new mandatory inspection schedule:

• High-risk facilities (think processing plants): At least once per year.
• Intermediate-risk facilities: At least once every two years.
• Low-risk facilities (like simple warehouses): At least once every three years.

This structured approach aims to put more focus and resources on the places most likely to cause a public health problem. It’s a clear win for consumer protection.

The State of the Inspections

There’s one provision that might affect how consistent enforcement feels across the country: the FFA Commissioner must contract with state officials to perform at least half of all required inspections (Section 3). On one hand, this leverages local knowledge and existing state infrastructure. On the other, it means that the quality and rigor of your local food inspection might depend heavily on the specific state agency doing the work, potentially leading to varied enforcement standards from state to state.

More Power, More Problems?

To ensure the new agency can do its job, the bill grants the Commissioner of Foods significant investigative powers (Section 1). This includes the authority to inspect any facility, access and copy relevant records, and, importantly, issue subpoenas to compel testimony or document production. This is a powerful tool to enforce food safety laws, but it also concentrates substantial regulatory and enforcement authority in the hands of a single, politically appointed Commissioner. While necessary for enforcement, this concentration of power will be something to watch closely as the agency establishes itself.