The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), signed into law by President Obama in January 2011, has been called “historic” because it puts the focus of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on prevention—working to ensure that unsafe foods are not distributed in the first place.

FDA commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg says the law directs the agency to oversee food safety in a way that applies “the best available science and good common sense to prevent the problems that can make people sick.”

What lends the new law additional importance is that it provides the FDA with new enforcement and inspection authorities.

“These new authorities are critical for the law’s success,” says Michael R. Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods. “They give the food companies strong additional incentives for keeping their products safe, and that helps us achieve the new law’s goal, which is to protect consumers from unsafe food.”

Food-born outbreaks are a significant public health burden that increases the cost of the nation’s health care, and as Taylor has emphasized, many of them can be prevented.

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