The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspects all food except meat, poultry, and processed egg products. That covers roughly 80% of the American food supply, including produce, seafood, dairy, packaged foods, beverages, and grains. The remaining 20%, specifically meat, poultry, and processed eggs, falls under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
What the FDA Covers
The FDA’s food oversight is enormous in scope. It regulates fruits, vegetables, seafood, bottled water, dairy products, bakery goods, canned foods, infant formula, dietary supplements, spices, and essentially any food product that isn’t meat, poultry, or a processed egg product. This includes both domestically produced and imported foods.
The FDA also regulates some meats you might not expect. Game meats and so-called “non-amenable” species fall under FDA jurisdiction rather than the USDA. This includes bison, deer, elk, rabbit, antelope, reindeer, squirrel, opossum, raccoon, water buffalo, non-aquatic reptiles, and wild birds like pheasant, quail, and wild turkey. These can voluntarily undergo USDA inspection, but the FDA is the primary regulator.
What the USDA Covers
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service handles inspection of livestock (beef, pork, lamb), poultry (chicken, turkey, domestic duck), and processed egg products like liquid, frozen, and dried eggs. FSIS derives its authority from three key federal laws: the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act.
One major difference between the two agencies is how often they inspect. USDA inspection is continuous. Federal inspectors are physically present in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants every day those facilities operate. The FDA, by contrast, uses a risk-based inspection approach, visiting facilities on a schedule determined by the type of food and the facility’s safety track record. A high-risk food manufacturer might see FDA inspectors every year or two, while a low-risk warehouse could go several years between visits.
The Egg Split
Eggs are one of the trickiest areas because both agencies share responsibility. The FDA regulates shell eggs, the ones you buy in a carton at the grocery store. It oversees their production, transportation, and storage on the farm. Once eggs are cracked open and processed into liquid, frozen, or powdered egg products, they become USDA territory. Egg-breaking and pasteurizing plants operate under USDA jurisdiction with continuous inspection, just like a meat processing facility.
How Mixed Products Are Classified
Products that contain both meat and non-meat ingredients follow a surprisingly specific threshold. If a product contains less than 3% raw meat or poultry, or less than 2% cooked meat or poultry, the FDA regulates it. Above those thresholds, the USDA takes over. This is why a frozen pizza with a small amount of pepperoni might be FDA-regulated, while a meat-heavy pot pie falls under USDA inspection. You can sometimes tell the difference by looking at the package: USDA-inspected products carry a round inspection mark, while FDA-regulated foods do not.
Imported Food Oversight
The FDA is also responsible for verifying the safety of imported non-meat foods, which make up a growing share of what Americans eat. Under a program called the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, any U.S. company importing food must confirm that its foreign suppliers meet American safety standards. Importers are required to analyze potential hazards for each type of food, evaluate the supplier’s food safety practices and compliance history, and conduct verification activities like audits, testing, or records reviews. These evaluations must be updated at least every three years, or sooner if new safety concerns emerge about the food or supplier.
For imported meat and poultry, the USDA handles that separately, requiring that exporting countries maintain inspection systems equivalent to the U.S. system before any shipments are allowed in.
Why the System Is Split
The divided system is a product of history rather than design. The USDA began inspecting meat in 1906 after public outrage over unsanitary conditions in meatpacking plants. The FDA’s broader food safety role developed separately under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Over the decades, Congress added poultry and egg products to the USDA’s portfolio while the FDA absorbed responsibility for virtually everything else. The result is two agencies with very different inspection models covering different parts of the same food supply, a structure that has been debated by policymakers for years but remains firmly in place.