Skip to main content
          Skip to FDA Search
          Skip to in this section menu
          Skip to footer links


U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government

					Here’s how you know
          			Dot gov**The .gov means it’s official.**Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.
							      SSL**The site is secure.** The **https://** ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. 
			U.S. Food and Drug Administration
				
        Search
            Menu
							
						Search FDA
									
									Submit search 
		Featured
							Contact FDA
	                FDA Guidance Documents
	                Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts
	                Press Announcements
	                Warning Letters
	                Advisory Committees
	                En Español

					Products
            Food
							Drugs
							Medical Devices
							Radiation-Emitting Products
							Vaccines, Blood, and Biologics
							Animal and Veterinary
							Cosmetics
							Tobacco ProductsTopics
            About FDA
							Combination Products
							Regulatory Information
							Safety
							Emergency Preparedness
							International Programs
							News and Events
							Training and Continuing Education
							Inspections and Compliance
							Science and ResearchInformation For
            Consumers
	            Patients
	            Industry
	            Health Professionals
	            Federal, State and Local Officials 
 In this section:

        Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS) Programs and Initiatives

Regulatory Program Standards

                        
                Animal Food Regulatory Program Standards (AFRPS) and Preventive Controls Cooperative Agreement Program
          Egg Regulatory Program Standards (ERPS)
          Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) Home
          For Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Officials
          Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS) Programs and Initiatives
          Regulatory Program StandardsIntegrated Food Safety System (IFSS) Programs and Initiatives Regulatory Program Standards
  	
        Share
    Post
    Linkedin

    Email
    PrintRelated Links

Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards









**National Regulatory Program Standards Overview**



FDA is committed to building a nationally Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS) of high quality regulatory programs responsible for protecting public health from human and animal foodborne illness and injury. Regulatory program standards play a critical role in an integrated food safety system and serve as the foundation for mutual reliance between agencies working with one another.

Regulatory program standards establish a uniform foundation for the design and management of state, local, tribal, and territorial programs that have the responsibility for regulating human and animal food.

The standards framework is comprised of best practices related to prevention, intervention and response activities.  Human and animal food regulatory programs can use the framework to build, maintain, evaluate and continuously improve their operations in a methodical and systematic manner to ensure high quality services and products for their customers.

FDA has collaborated with local and state partners and their associations to develop three sets of standards to date for manufactured food, animal feed, and retail food regulatory programs.  FDA is also using a similar systems-based approach for establishing reciprocity with other countries looking to export food to the US.

FDA continues to collaborate with our partners and to support the development and use of regulatory program standards to:

Encourage the adoption of the most current, science-based human and animal food laws and regulations necessary to protect public health.
	Promote the development of training programs to ensure that regulatory staff have competencies needed to effectively carry out their work.
	Help programs to develop risk-based inspection and sampling protocols to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.
	Provide a mechanism to evaluate and communicate the quality of their inspections and sampling to ensure desired outcomes in alignment with their policies and procedures.
	Support the development of a food and feed emergency response program that is based on nationally recognized best practices designed to identify, stop, control and prevent hazards that are likely to result in a human or animal foodborne illness, injury or outbreak.
	Ensure that regulatory programs have and use strategies and enforcement procedures when necessary to ensure compliance with their jurisdiction’s laws and regulations to protect public health.
	Encourage the use of education and outreach with stakeholders to address human and animal food safety and inspection-related issues.
	Help programs to self-assess and allocate resources needed to support effective and efficient operations related to prevention, intervention and response activities.
	Re-enforce management’s commitment to implement a quality system for continuous improvement of their program’s products and services.
	Provide management with a tool to assess and collaborate with their laboratory partners for human and animal food testing services needed to support their program inspection, investigation and enforcement activities.

                                                                                  Content current as of:
      11/09/2023Regulatory Program Standards                
                          

                        Animal Food Regulatory Program Standards (AFRPS) and Preventive Controls Cooperative Agreement Program
          Egg Regulatory Program Standards (ERPS)
          Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS)
 
 Footer Links
    FDA Archive
          About FDA
          Accessibility
      Visitor Information
          Website Policies / Privacy
          No FEAR Act
          Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
      FOIA
          HHS.gov
          USA.gov
    Contact FDA
      Follow FDA on Facebook
      Follow FDA on X
      Follow FDA on Instagram
      Follow FDA on LinkedIn
      View FDA videos on YouTube
      Subscribe to FDA RSS feeds
    FDA Homepage
    Contact Number
      1-888-INFO-FDA (1-888-463-6332) Back toTop