Domestic Mutual Reliance

Domestic mutual reliance is a seamless partnership that enables FDA and states with comparable regulatory public health systems, as trusted partners, to rely on, coordinate with, and leverage one another’s work, data, and actions to meet the public health goal of a safe national food supply.

The purpose of this partnership is to improve industry compliance, avoid duplication of effort, drive efficiencies, and prevent or reduce human and animal foodborne illness outbreaks.

By working toward an Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS), partners can coordinate food safety inspection efforts, share data, and respond to outbreaks more efficiently. This collaboration includes:

Data exchange/information sharing
Work planning and risk prioritization/categorization, including inspection frequency mandates, and comparison and reconciliation of inventories
Inspection, compliance/enforcement, and corrective actions
Environmental assessment
Recall oversight and effectiveness/audit checks
Investigation of outbreaks and complaints
Sample collection and laboratory capacity, analysis, and reporting
Field staff training
Industry and consumer education
Organizational resources and personnel
Development and monitoring of key domestic mutual reliance metrics

The domestic mutual reliance partnership will enable FDA to:

Work closely with state regulatory human and animal food safety programs to extend efforts to protect public health;
Collaborate with states to develop and sustain a highly-trained workforce and build quality management systems and the infrastructure needed to meet national regulatory program standards; and
Acknowledge states’ successes in meeting national regulatory program standards.

The Regulatory Program Standards include the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards (MFRPS) and the Animal Feed Regulatory Program Standards (AFRPS).

This collaborative effort provides opportunities for FDA and state partners to identify needs to better protect the public and leverage work from other regulatory programs.

What's New

Here you will find the latest updates on what is happening with domestic mutual reliance and state partners.

April 2021 - Food Safety Magazine describes how domestic mutual reliance builds upon the successes of FDA’s Rapid Response Teams model in collaboration with states to improve food safety in the United States. Erik Mettler, FDA Assistant Commissioner for Partnerships and Policy, and Natalie Adan, Food Safety Division Director of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, are co-authors.
Partnership Agreement with Utah Department of Agriculture and Food

Resources

Do you have questions or would you like more information? Please submit them to OP.Feedback@fda.hhs.gov.