---
kind: "section"
citation: "21 U.S.C. § 2101"
title: "21"
title_heading: "Food and Drugs"
number: "2101"
heading: "Findings"
release: "119-102"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/21/2101"
units:
  - "Chapter 26 — Food Safety"
---

# §2101. Findings


Congress finds that—

- (1) the safety and integrity of the United States [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) supply are vital to public health, to public confidence in the [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) supply, and to the success of the [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) sector of the Nation’s economy;
- (2) illnesses and deaths of individuals and companion animals caused by contaminated [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1)—
  - (A) have contributed to a loss of public confidence in [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) safety; and
  - (B) have caused significant economic losses to manufacturers and producers not responsible for contaminated [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) items;
- (3) the task of preserving the safety of the [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) supply of the United States faces tremendous pressures with regard to—
  - (A) emerging pathogens and other contaminants and the ability to detect all forms of contamination;
  - (B) an increasing volume of imported [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) from a wide variety of countries; and
  - (C) a shortage of adequate resources for monitoring and inspection;
- (4) according to the Economic Research Service of the Department of Agriculture, the United States is increasing the amount of [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) that it imports such that—
  - (A) from 2003 to 2007, the value of [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) imports has increased from $45,600,000,000 to $64,000,000,000; and
  - (B) imported [food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) accounts for 13 percent of the average American diet including 31 percent of fruits, juices, and nuts, 9.5 percent of red meat, and 78.6 percent of fish and shellfish; and
- (5) the number of full-time equivalent [Food](/usc/21/346a.md?p=a-1) and [Drug](/usc/21/321.md?p=g-1) Administration employees conducting inspections has decreased from 2003 to 2007.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 110–85, title X, § 1001, Sept. 27, 2007, 121 Stat. 962.)