What’s the Difference Between the FDA and the USDA?
Why do different government agencies regulate milk, eggs, and processed foods? It’s complicated.
Amy McCarthy is a reporter at Eater.com, focusing on pop culture, policy and labor, and only the weirdest online trends.
Earlier this week, representatives from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed plans to suspend a testing program to rate grade “A” raw milk, one of the countless quality control programs that keep Americans’ food supply safe. And as all federal agencies — including those that monitor our food systems — have been subjected to sweeping budget cuts under the Trump administration, the announcement gave a hint as to just how much layoffs (and the controversial food policy opinions of those now in charge) would have a significant impact on the regulation of our food supply. (During the first Trump administration, his appointees loosened inspection requirements at pork plants and chicken egg production facilities, which caused alarm among food safety experts.)
It doesn’t help that those inspection systems were weirdly complicated to begin with. But between the FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), how does it work?
To this point, almost everything Americans eat has been vetted by one of two government agencies: the FDA, which is part of Department of Health and Human Services, or the USDA. Within the FDA, the Human Foods Program works on matters related to food and nutrition, with the goal to “ensure that food is a source of wellness for all U.S. consumers.” The USDA, meanwhile, works to support the American agricultural economy and “promote agriculture production that better nourishes Americans while also helping feed others throughout the world.”
Though many Americans may think the USDA is the main inspection arm of the U.S. government — due to its more visible logo on meats and organic certifications — it’s actually the FDA that regulates about 78 percent of the U.S. food supply, including dairy, seafood, produce, packaged foods, bottled water, and eggs in their shell. The FDA is also responsible for regulating — and approving nutrition facts labels — on all processed foods created and sold in the U.S., everything from Cheez-Its, Starburst, Lucky Charms, grab-and-go salads, frozen pizza, and jars of peanut butter and jelly. That gives Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the power to require removal of certain artificial food dyes from processed foods, as he announced was his plan in late April.
The USDA mainly oversees meat, poultry, and egg products, like packaged egg whites and powdered eggs used in food processing. Under its umbrella also falls the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, which establishes Dietary Guidelines, and the Food and Nutrition Service, which administers SNAP benefits (aka food stamps). The USDA also operates a marketing branch that slaps meat “grade” labels on products.
The humble pepperoni pizza exemplifies the complicated way in which these two agencies interact — or don’t. Usually, the only difference between a cheese pizza and a pepperoni pizza is the pepperoni. Yet a frozen pepperoni pizza, because it contains meat, will go through three separate USDA inspections: At the slaughterhouse, at the pepperoni-making facility, and at the pizza factory. Meanwhile, a frozen cheese pizza usually only needs approval from the FDA once: when the pizza manufacturer adds a nutritional label.
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Meat and poultry: USDA
The USDA’s internal Food Safety and Inspection Service regulates almost all of the meat we eat, including beef, pork, goat, lamb, and poultry. (This agency has also established processes for handling the avian influenza epidemic, which range from mandatory testing of poultry products to slaughtering birds to prevent the spread of the virus.)
Safety inspections are mandatory, but the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service also offers producers the option to grade meat. This extra service, which comes with a fee, is why consumers will see meat cuts labeled “USDA Prime” or “USDA Choice” at the grocery store. Diners will note these distinctions, used to indicate quality, on many steakhouse menus.
The FDA, meanwhile, regulates “meat from exotic animals,” which includes venison and other hunted game like wild boar. The USDA is responsible for inspecting sausages, but the FDA inspects sausage casings (because, as FoodSafetyNews writes, “they have no nutritional value as meat.”)
Eggs: Both, it’s complicated
Representatives from the USDA and FDA acknowledge that laws surrounding the regulation of eggs are murky and vary from product to product. In general, the USDA inspects egg products, like packaged egg whites and powdered eggs used in food processing, while the FDA regulates whole eggs in their shells. (Again, USDA-graded eggs are a part of the branch’s marketing arm, and do not reflect inspection for safety.) Egg substitutes and replacements (which do not contain any egg product) are regulated by the FDA.
Dairy: FDA
The FDA regulates packaged milk and dairy in the U.S., including yogurt, sour cream, cheese, and ice cream that does not contain eggs. The FDA has specific rules for different kinds of cheeses, including how much moisture and milk fat they must contain, and what aging times are required for cheeses made from raw, or unpasteurized, milk.
In light of the 2025 avian influenza, also known as H5N1 or “bird flu,” outbreaks across the country, the agency has also established the National Milk Testing Strategy, which will “facilitate comprehensive H5N1 surveillance of the Nation’s milk supply and dairy herds” in an effort to better understand how to combat the virus. The agency is also researching a vaccine for the virus that could be given to dairy cows to prevent the spread of H5N1.
Fish: FDA, except for farmed catfish
The FDA regulates fish, shellfish, and all seafood — except farmed catfish, the production of which is inspected by the USDA. When foods are recalled by their suppliers in the event of contamination, like the recent recall of major canned fish brands possibly contaminated with botulism, the FDA publicizes those recalls to help ensure that people who have purchased recalled products can return or dispose of them before consuming them.
Produce: Raw, USDA; processed FDA
Raw fruits and vegetables fall under the regulation of the USDA, but once they’re processed — into applesauce or bottled juice or dried fruit chips — they become the FDA’s problem.
Why are sandwiches a weird exception?
However, when meat shows up on packaged sandwiches and pizza interesting exceptions to USDA/FDA rules emerge. Open-faced meat sandwiches, where the ratio of meat to bread and other ingredients is more than half, are regulated by the USDA. But closed sandwiches, which have two slices of bread, are regulated by the FDA because the ratio of meat to other ingredients is less than 50 percent.
