On August, 25, 1998, the President issued Executive Order 13100 establishing the President's Food Safety Council to improve the safety of the food supply through science-based regulation and well-coordinated inspection, enforcement, research, and education programs. The Council is responsible for developing a long-range strategic plan that can be used to set priorities, improve coordination and efficiency, identify gaps in the current system and how to fill those gaps, enhance and strengthen prevention and intervention strategies, and identify measures to show progress. In developing the plan, the agencies will consider the conclusions and recommendations of the National Academy of Science's report Ensuring Safe Food from Production to Consumption, the review of Federal food safety research, and the research plan being developed by an interagency working group.

The food safety agencies took the first step in the strategic planning process by drafting a statement encompassing the agencies' vision for the U.S. food safety system and the roles of all those involved. A Federal Register notice was published in September 1998 announcing a strategic planning process, beginning with a discussion of the vision statement, that involves all interested parties. The October 2 meeting was the first of several scheduled meetings, including Sacramento, California, on October 20; Chicago, Illinois, on November 10; and Dallas, Texas, on December 8.