The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb this week announced a formal agreement between the two agencies to increase interagency collaboration on food safety and biotechnology activities.
On the surface this may not sound relevant to the floriculture industry, but there are potentially positive implications relating to floriculture’s ongoing interest in biotechnology.
Within the USDA, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is responsible for protecting agriculture from pests and diseases. APHIS also has regulatory oversight of biotechnology, including organisms and products that pose a risk to U.S. agriculture.
The FDA is responsible for ensuring crops modified by conventional breeding techniques or by genetic engineering are properly labeled and meet required safety standards.
The agencies are now taking a more collaborative approach to ensure efficiency and effectiveness on product safety measures and biotechnology activities. The interagency partnership will also help reduce any USDA and FDA regulatory overlaps.
While food nutrition and safety is not a main concern of the floriculture industry, the FDA’s interpretation of biotechnology is important to the way USDA treats modern breeding techniques. With increased interest in the development of new varieties, it is important that regulations be sufficient enough to manage risk without preventing innovation.
