O.K. class, time for another lesson on who does what in the never-ending quest to keep your food safe. We all can agree the Food and Drug Administration is one big, busy bee, can’t we? After all, regulating nearly 80 percent of our nation’s food supply is a pretty significant job. But the FDA can’t do all of this alone – so the task of protecting our dinners is a team effort. Among those who are part of the complex work of keeping our food safe are more than 3,000 state and local health agencies that work with the FDA to ensure the safety of products like milk, shellfish and veggies.

Where did these agencies come from, you ask? Well, the  authorized three cooperative programs, comprised of federal, state and local regulatory agencies, to monitor the safety of our shellfish, milk and retail foods. State and local governments regulate processing plants, farms and restaurants by inspecting facilities, issuing licenses and permits, and enforcing food safety and public health laws.

If regulation and inspection are done on local level, then what does this have to do with the FDA? Glad you asked! The FDA provides specialists with expertise in shellfish, milk and retail foods to guide state and local officials in policy implementation and inspections. These specialists audit state and local officials’ inspections of all aspects of food processing and distribution, from dairy plants to restaurants and supermarkets, to make sure these facilities meet sanitation requirements. Additionally, the agency trains state officials on how to use FDA guidelines in order to establish uniform standards for state and local food regulatory agencies.

But that’s not the only role the FDA plays in relation to these cooperative programs. The agency’s food safety experts actually develop the programs and policies state and local officials use to monitor facilities in their area. The FDA’s specialists develop sample guidelines addressing foodborne illness prevention that can be used by states and municipalities when drafting their own regulations. Additionally, these specialists meet with members of local governments to advocate for the adoption of new FDA policies.

Not only do these cooperative programs keep our food safe during the inspection and distribution processes, they also are instrumental in ensuring the safety of our food during large scale events like natural disasters. Debris and flooding from a hurricane, for example, can facilitate the growth of bacteria, compromising the safety of milk and other dairy products. Dairy processing plants are often significantly damaged during floods and hurricanes, causing milk to become contaminated. FDA specialists work with state and local public health authorities to ensure our food is safe by inspecting damaged facilities as they rebuild and restart production.

With federal, state and local public health authorities working together to keep each other up to date on food protection, we can feel pretty good about what’s on our plates. Now that’s teamwork!