Letter to Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration

Letter

Brown, Durbin Seek FDA Safety Work Plans

February 27, 2008

Andrew C. von Eschenbach
Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857

Dear Dr. von Eschenbach:

The safety of our nation's food supply has become a matter of growing concern, and we appreciate the opportunity to work in partnership with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure American families can be confident in our food safety system.

Along with tough safety standards and strict enforcement of those standards, rigorous food inspection is a basic requirement of any successful food safety strategy. As part of Congress' efforts to evaluate the FDA's inspection resources, we write to request copies of the FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) Work Plans for FY 2001 through FY 2007. The ORA Work Plans would enable Congress to assess the basic framework underlying FDA's food safety activities, specifically, the goals set for the Centers responsible for ensuring the safety of food, drugs, cosmetics, biologics, medical devices, animal feed and drugs, and radiation-emitting products.

We seek these documents in our official capacity to develop legislative ideas relevant to the performance of the regulatory agencies responsible for food safety. It is our understanding that the work plans detail the number of inspections and tests anticipated in the program areas for each fiscal year down to the FDA district level. The documents we seek will inform our understanding of FDA's performance, especially when combined with ORA's publicly available statistics on import refusals, seizures, injunctions, warning letters, recalls, and inspections.

We believe this information will help Congress work with the FDA towards promoting food safety goals. We ask for your reply within ten business days.

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown
United States Senator

Richard Durbin
United States Senator

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