FSIS Celebrates 100 Years

This year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) celebrates 100 years of protecting the food supply under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA).

FSIS is the premier public health regulatory agency that ensures the safety and security of the U.S. meat, poultry and egg products supply. For the past century under FMIA, FSIS and its predecessors have ensured that meat products are safe to consume by carrying out continuous, daily inspections at slaughter and food processing establishments.

Today, FSIS is accountable for protecting the lives and well-being of 295 million U.S. citizens and millions more around the world. More than 7,600 inspection program personnel are employed by FSIS who are assigned to nearly 6,000 Federal slaughter and food processing establishments.

To meet future realities of food safety and public health challenges, FSIS is moving to a more robust risk-based inspection system that continues to rely on science-based policies. This flexibility will allow FSIS to anticipate, and quickly respond to, food safety challenges before they negatively affect public health. The continued modernization of the inspection system will enable FSIS to meet ever-changing threats to public health. FSIS will continue to further enhance and strengthen the present risk-based inspection system so that we are prepared and well equipped for food safety challenges in the next century.