The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requesting a budget of $3.2 billion to protect and promote the public health as part of the President's fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget – a 19 percent increase over the current FDA fiscal year budget.
The FY 2010 request, which covers the period of Oct. 1, 2009, through Sept. 30, 2010, includes increases of $295.2 million in budget authority and $215.4 million in industry user fees.
The FDA budget proposes two major initiatives for FY 2010: Protecting America's Food Supply and Safer Medical Products. It also includes increases for current law user fees and for infrastructure to support critical agency operations. The FDA is also proposing four new user fees to facilitate review of generic drugs, register and inspect food manufacturing and processing facilities, reinspect facilities that fail to meet Good Manufacturing Practices and other safety requirements, and issue export certifications for food and feed.
The FDA's proposed budget increase for Protecting America's Food Supply ($259.3 million) states: The goal of this effort is to protect American consumers by preventing intentional and unintentional contamination. This effort invests in priorities that strengthen the safety and security of the supply chain for foods. Supply chain safety and security relies on the principle of risk-based prevention with verification. Under this principle, the FDA holds all segments of industry accountable for ensuring that their products meet U.S. safety standards. The initiative focuses on foreign and domestic sources of ingredients, components, and finished products at all points in the supply chain, including their eventual use by the American public. Within this initiative, the FDA proposes to collect a total of $94.4 million in new user fees to register food facilities and increase food inspections, issue food and feed export certifications, and reinspect food facilities that fail to meet the FDA's safety standards.
For more information on the President's FY 2010 budget for the FDA, visit: www.fda.gov/oc/oms/ofm/budget/documentation.htm.