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Welcome to the Food Safety and Inspection
Service (FSIS), a regulatory public health agency of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. Our mission is to protect consumers by ensuring that
meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, unadulterated,
and properly labeled and packaged.
To assist us in this mission are dedicated veterinarians who are trained
in public health and regulatory medicine. FSIS is the largest employer
of veterinarians in the United States,
with approximately 1,200 working to protect the public from foodborne
illnesses. In addition, we have partnered with the Public Health Service
to provide Commissioned Corps veterinarians new opportunities in food
safety programs.
Our veterinarians are team leaders that supervise other public health
professionals to ensure establishments under our jurisdiction comply
with sanitation standards and properly implement systems that control
hazards from entering the food supply. Veterinarians enforce federal
meat and poultry inspection procedures at ante mortem and throughout
the entire establishment, including processing operations, transportation
and distribution of meat, poultry and egg products to markets and
retail stores. In addition, the knowledge of FSIS veterinarians may
be utilized to advise academia, industry and professional groups on
the effectiveness of food safety controls. FSIS veterinarians are
also responsible for enforcing the Humane Slaughter Act and ensure
industry is following proper procedures. In addition to working in
slaughter and processing establishments, veterinarians are also employed
as epidemiologists, pathologists, auditors, risk analysts and biosecurity
experts. Veterinarians in FSIS are executive leaders, international
liaisons, and program managers.
Based on reports of foodborne health hazards and disease outbreaks,
FSIS veterinarians are employed to conduct epidemiological investigations
in collaboration with local health departments and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. We also assess State inspection programs;
design new inspection systems and procedures; evaluate agency programs
to assess their effectiveness in ensuring the safety of meat, poultry
and egg products; create and deliver training and educational programs;
and other challenging tasks that ultimately protect you and your family
from foodborne illnesses.
Your veterinary education and experiences have provided you with a
foundation that is valued and needed in our agency. For more information
about joining our team, please continue to review the information
on this Web site.
FSIS Task Force Report
In 1999, the Agency convened a selected panel charge with examining
how veterinarians and the arts and science of veterinary medicine
should be utilized in food safety. In August 2000, the Task Force
published the document The
Future of FSIS Veterinarian: Public Health Professionals For the 21st
Century | PDF. The task force developed fifty-one recommendations that
describe how to best utilize the knowledge, skills and aptitudes of
veterinarians so that they can focus on critical activities in protecting
the public health. Most of the recommendations are now being implemented
resulting in new opportunities and professional challenges in assessing
and assuring public health protection. |
Last Modified:
November 6, 2007 |
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